Shadows of Almia: The Light of Vantonage
by Annabelle Jones
Summary: Sparkette is a young girl from Fiore who dreams of being a Pokemon Ranger. When she finally makes this dream come true, she finds out she could get more than she bargained for. This is basically a retelling of the second Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. With my own little twists, of course.
1. First day at Ranger School

**Hey, guys! My name is Serena!**

**Welcome to Shadows of Almia: The Light of Vantonage! This is a retelling of the second Pokemon Ranger game, with my own little twists, of course! ;)**

**I've loved the Pokemon games my entire life. This may be one of my favorite Pokemon games ever. I even have a poster for it in my room! Ever since this game came out, I fell in love with the characters (especially a certain idiot we all love). A few years ago I decided to start writing this story. I tried and failed. A few months ago, I tried again. This time, I was able to finish the story! Yes, this story is already completed, meaning updates will be fast! (I joined fanfiction after writing the story)**

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN POKEMON. Sometimes I wish I did so I could help write these amazing stories we all know and love! **

**Claimer for now and all chapters: I do technically own all of the changes I've made, and Sparkette's name. When I first started this story, I forgot the name of the official character in the game. (I now know it's Kate) so I started writing this story using the name I chose for my character as a kid, Sparkette. When I did discover the real name, I didn't have the heart to change it. **

**This is my first time using Fanfiction. Just warning you guys.**

**Now then, let us begin... **

* * *

"Now, I need you to catch this Pikachu," the man in a green uniform said to me. I had never been so nervous in my entire life. Catching a Pikachu may have sounded easy to you, but to me it was the only way I could get into my dream school, the Ranger School. And the only way I could become a Pokemon Ranger. A Pokemon Ranger is a person that uses a capture styler to catch Pokemon by spinning a little disk around a Pokemon. It may sound simple, but it was really hard.

I exhaled and picked up the green School Styler. I faced the Pikachu and sent the little disk out of the styler. Following this disk was a blue line. I spun the styler in circles around the Pikachu until the line from the styler disappeared and the Pikachu rushed over to me.

"Okay, good going!" the man said. The Pikachu ran to stand next to him. Suddenly, the man laughed. I backed away, slightly freaked out.

"My name, it is Kaplan," he said, smiling. Okay, very freaked out. "You are now a member of our secret army, the inscrutable Team School." Maybe going to Ranger School wasn't the best idea… "As proof of your membership, you may keep the School Styler you just used. Together, we shall rule the world…" I don't want to rule the world!

"Oh, please, Mr. Kaplan!" a female voice exclaimed. A woman with red-brown hair walked into the room. She wore a green blouse and a white skirt.

"Please don't tease my students with a silly performance like that!" she said, crossing her arms.

The man, Mr. Kaplan, I guess, laughed. "Sorry. The timing was just too perfect to miss. Congratulations! You have passed the Ranger School's entrance exam with flying colors! That was really quite an impressive capture."

"Thanks, I guess," I said, still confused by everything that was happening.

The woman smiled at me. "Congratulations on getting accepted!" she said. "Starting today, you are officially a student of the Ranger School. My name is Ms. April. I'm your class's teacher. I'm pleased to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too," I said. "My name is Sparkette."

Ms. April smiled. "Come with me, Sparkette. Your class is waiting for you."

I nodded, and followed Ms April out of the shack. We walked across the school grounds. The grounds were smaller than I had expected, they were basically just an open field with a few paths leading to who knows where.

When we got inside, Ms. April lead me to the first door on our left. Inside there were about seven students. Ms. April walked to the front of the room, leaving me in the back unnoticed.

"Good morning, everyone!" she said.

"Good morning!" everyone else replied.

"As I mentioned earlier, we have a new student in our class!" Ms. April continued. Everyone looked shocked. Apparently they didn't remember at all.

Two of the boys on the right side of the class turned to each other. The one with brown hair said, "Is it a guy? Or girl?" The other guy, one with spiky red-brown hair, shrugged.

Two of the girls on the other side of the room seemed to be having a very similar conversation. "Is the new student cute? Cool? Or do they look like a celebrity?" said a brown haired girl. Before the other girl, the blonde, could reply, Ms April continued.

"Okay, that's enough!" she said. "You can see for yourself!" She gestured to me with a smile and I walked through the center aisle up to the front of the room.

"Our new friend came to the Almia region to learn how to be a Ranger," Ms April continued. She turned to me. "You should introduce your self to the class."

I turned to face everyone. "My name is Sparkette," I said. "I'm from Fiore."

Ms. April smiled. "Be sure to make Sparkette feel welcome here. She passed the entrance exam with flying colors you know." She paused, looking at her class. "Why the big grin, Keith?"

I followed her gaze to see the boy with spiky hair. I assumed this was Keith. He certainly did have a huge grin on his face. It was actually creeping me out a little.

"Anyway," Ms. April continued. "Sparkette, please take the seat next to Keith." Oh, great! I was going to get to spend my time here sitting next to an idiot! I nodded, and walked over to the only empty desk in the room, the one next to Keith.

"Okay, that should do!" Ms. April said. "Let's all work hard together to achieve our dreams of being Rangers, Operators and Mechanics!"

"YEAH!" everyone, including me this time, cried.

"Okay, I'll change the class schedule for today and make this a free study period," Ms April turned to the blonde sitting across the aisle from me. "Rhythmi, can I get you to show Sparkette around the school?"

"I sure will!" Rhythmi replied. Ms. April left the room. All of the students gathered around me.

"Why did you come to school late?" a female student asked.

"What was it like in Fiore?" said a male.

"Do you like Almia so far?" another girl said.

Ah, too many questions! I think everyone in the room had a question. They all went silent when Keith dropped a giant book onto my desk, causing me to flinch.

"Hey, new kid," he scoffed. "I forgot your name, but how long did it take you to capture Pikachu? Like an hour?"

I opened my mouth to complain, but Rhythmi interrupted me. "Don't pay any attention to Keith, he's just a big show off," she said with a smile. "Pay attention to me instead. I'm not learning to be a Ranger, I want to become a Operator. So when Keith becomes a Ranger, I get to boss him around!"

"Really?" I asked, skeptically.

"No, I was just kidding," Rhythmi smiled. "Let's start our tour with our own classroom. You've already meet our teacher, Ms. April. She is really nice, but if you make her mad…" She shuddered. "Look out." I was pretty sure I didn't want to know what she did to the students, and I was not about to find out. "There is another class next door, with a man named Mr. Kincaid as their teacher. He is very uptight and 'No running in the hallways!' is his pet saying. Let's go check out his classroom!"

Rhythmi lead me out of the room and across the hall. When we walked into his room, Mr. Kincaid was in the middle of teaching a lesson. Pretty much as soon as we stepped into the room he was glaring at us.

"Sorry to disturb you!" Rhythmi said. "I'm giving Sparkette a tour of the school. She just started here today." She turned to me. "This is Mr. Kincaid. As you can probably see, he uses a lot of hairspray every day." I could smell it, too! The room reeked of scented hair care products. I was surprised the students weren't choking on the scent!

Mr. Kincaid walked up to me, a fake smile plastered on his face. "You must be the new student from the other class!" he said. "There is one rule that I would like you to honor and uphold while you're in school. Don't run in the hallways." Of course. "Oh, there's another rule too." Really? Can't he just leave me alone? I was Ms. April's student, I did not want to be lectured by Mr. Kincaid. Well, at least it felt like a lecture coming from him. "Don't cast suspicion on others without proof. These two rules are truly important."

"Thank you for the advice," I said. "Sorry to disturb your class."

Mr. Kincaid was still smiling at me with obviously fake smile. He somehow managed to glare at me while smiling. I did not even know that was possible. "It's no problem," he said. "Come back anytime. Provided we aren't in the middle of class, of course."

Finally, no more lectures! Rhythmi and I walked out of his classroom and continued through the building.

"So, where are we going next, Rhythmi?" I asked.

"The library," She replied. "Otherwise known as Keith's nap room." I snickered. Somehow that did not surprise me at all. "It's right over here." She lead me to a door on the left of some staircases and we headed inside.

"In case you were wondering, the boy in the back of the room is Isaac," Rhythmi said. "He's awesomely smart. You can usually find him right here in the library. Sometimes he goes off somewhere, though." She sounded slightly disappointed with her last sentence.

A green haired boy walked up to me. "Hi!" he said, cheerfully. "Do you think I'd make a good Ranger?"

"Um, I don't even know your name," I replied. "so I don't think I would be the best judge of that."

The boy sighed. "I don't think I'm cut out for it," he said. "That's what I've been thinking… I'm Ponte, by the way. I'm the Ranger School's conflicted marshmallow boy."

"I'm Sparkette," I replied. "It's nice to meet you!" Ponte grinned at me, and I smiled. I started to walk toward the back of the room where Isaac was standing, but Rhythmi grabbed my arm, stopping me. I turned to her.

"Um, let's move on to the staff room," she said. Her face was pink. "We shouldn't disturb Isaac. He's probably studying for something."

Before I could say anything, Rhythmi dragged me out of the library and across the hall into another room. When we headed in, we found Ms. April and a man I didn't know.

"This may be called the staff room, but usually only our Principal is in here." Rhythmi said. Her blushing had died down. "So it's more like his office. Our principal is Mr. Lamont. His eyes are always twinkling behind his glasses. I like him a lot."

"Can we move on?" I asked. "I think I'm done with teachers after meeting Mr. Kincaid." Rhythmi giggled, then nodded.

We exited the staff room and walked over to the staircase. I started to walk down the stairs, but Rhythmi stopped me.

"Mr. Kincaid's lab is downstairs," she said. "but we can't go down without permission…"

"The basement is his lab?" I asked. Rhythmi nodded. "Okay, maybe we shouldn't go down. Are we allowed upstairs?" Rhythmi nodded again, and we walked up the staircase.

"Our dorms are on the second floor," Rhythmi explained. "This is where we bunk down, co-ed style!" I must have looked shocked, because Rhythmi giggled. "Not in the same rooms, of course! The boys' bedroom is on the right and the girls' on the left."

"Oh, you must be the new student!" a lady called. I nodded, walking up to her. "I'm Janice," she said, smiling. "I'm the caretaker at the school. It's nice to meet you!"

I was about to reply, but I was interrupted by the ringing of the school bell.

"The bell means we can go outside!" Rhythmi said, excited. "Let's go!" We ran out of the school, (take that, Mr. Kincaid!) and stepped onto the school grounds.

"That's the training room," Rhythmi said, gesturing to the shack. "The teachers there will help you learn how to catch Pokemon and do target clears. However, seeing as you passed the entrance exam, you don't need that." Good. I'm not quite sure I wanted to see Mr. Kaplan agian.

"Oh dear, Oh dear!" A woman cried. "Help, someone, anyone!"

"That sounded like Janice!" Rhythmi said.

"Let's go see what's wrong!" I said. When we rushed over, we discovered that Janice was having trouble with all of the Bidoof.

"Sparkette, capture them!" Rhythmi said. "That's the only thing we can do!"

"Okay!" I readied the school styler.

"Heh, I was wondering what the ruckus was all about," a boy's voice said. Rhythmi and I turned in shock to see Keith leaning against the walls of the Ranger School. "Looks like a good time that's up for grabs!"

"Keith!" Rhythmi yelled at him. "Don't just stand there! Help Sparkette capture all these Bidoof!"

"I don't need help," I murmured. "Especially not from him."

"It won't be much fun if I just helped," Keith replied, leaping off the wall and walking over to us. "Hey new kid! I still don't remember your name, but I challenge you! We will have a capture race to see who catches the most Bidoof."

"Can't you make the effort to learn our new friend's name?" Rhythmi said.

"It's fine, Rhythmi," I said, stepping in front of her, styler in hand. "I accept your challenge, Keith."

Keith grinned. He pulled out his styler. "Okay, let's get on with it!" he said. "Three, Two, One, GO!"

The two of us started running around the yard catching all of the Bidoof. It wasn't too hard, but it was annoying. Why were there so many Bidoof at this school? What on earth do we need them all for? When Keith and I had finally caught all the Bidoof, we lined them up in the center.

Even though he was probably one of the most arrogant people on the earth, Keith was definitely a good Ranger. In the time it took me to catch four Bidoof, he had managed to catch five.

"Ha!" Keith said. "Looks like I win!" He did a backflip in the air and held up his styler. This was probably his Ranger Pose.

"Thank you all for this," Janice said. "It's such a relief! And to the leader Bidoof, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to tread on your tail. Come along, everyone!" All of the Bidoof cried out and followed Janice back into the school.

Keith turned to me. "I'd rate your captures about a sixty five out of one hundred," he said. I glared at him. "Hey… I'll be honest. I was pretty surprised by how you did. You might be decent for someone who just learned about this."

I didn't know what to say. Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult? I honestly couldn't tell. "Umm, thanks, Keith, I guess."

There was a long pause.

"You said your name is Sparkette, right?" he said.

"Oh, Keith!" Rhythmi exclaimed. "You knew her name all along!" She turned back to me. "There's still another place I have to show you, Sparkette."

"If you're going to Ascension Square, can I come?" Keith asked.

Rhythmi sighed. "Fine, just don't be too annoying."

The three of us walked down the path and made a left where we found a staircase. We walked down it to clearing with a giant statue in the middle.

"Is this Ascension Square?" I asked.

"Yep!" Rhythmi replied. "The giant statue is called the pledge stone."

We all walked up to the stone. "If you make a pledge here with your friends it is said that it is sure to come true. And with that, our tour of the school is over!" Rhythmi said.

"Thanks, Rhythmi!" I said.

She smiled at me. "I'm glad to have meet you, Sparkette. I hope we can be friends for a long time!"

Keith ran up to me as well, shoving Rhythmi aside. "Hey, don't worry about Rhythmi! We should be friends."

I stared at Keith for a long time. Eventually, I burst out laughing. Keith stared at me. "Keith, you are such a boy. Of course I'll be your friend!"

Keith adjusted his uniform as though he were thinking: I hope I'm a boy!

Suddenly the bell rang. "We better get back to class," Rhythmi said. "And Keith, did you seriously just do that?" Keith grinned. Rhythmi sighed. "Fine, let's just go."

* * *

Later that day, in the dorm rooms after school, I wrote a letter to my little sister.

_Dear Lily,_

_I got into Ranger school! Classes are great. I really miss you though! I hope to see you soon!_

_Sparkette._

Good enough for the first night. I folded up the letter and shoved it into my pocket. I would mail it in the morning.

"Hey, Sparkette!" Rhythmi called from the door. "Come with me!"

I hesitated, then followed her out the door into the common room. Keith was there waiting for us, along with a few other students from my class. "Rhythmi, what's going on?" I asked.

"You'll see," she replied. "Nothing bad, I promise."

We walked over to Keith. "Thanks for waiting." Rhythmi said.

Keith looked really mad. "Yeah, you kept us waiting for a while, Rhythmi!"

Rhythmi completely ignored this comment. "Okay, let's get started with our test of courage to welcome Sparkette!"

"What?" I exclaimed.

"Keep it down, but yay!" everyone said.

"What is a test of courage?" I asked, a little bit overwhelmed by what was going on.

"We just want you to prove you're brave," Keith said. "It's no big deal, I had to do it too. But you do have the easily spooked look to you. No offence."

"None taken," I said, after smacking him.

"The rules are simple," Rhythmi said after she finished laughing at the surprised look on Keith's face. "All you have to do is find the school stylers that the four of us hid all over the school and bring them to the basement."

"Isn't the basement off limits?" I asked.

"Yes it is, which is why our second rule is that one person has to go with the student taking the challenge," Rhythmi continued. "And the rules state that the person sitting on the challenger's right has to go with you!" She shoved me towards Keith. "So, off you go!"

Keith sighed. "Let's just get this over with, Sparkette," he said. I nodded, and we ran downstairs together. I heard Rhythmi giggle once more before we left.

"So where should we start?" I asked.

"The stylers are in the two classrooms, the library, and the staff room. When we get to each room I will tell you the hint for the room." Keith replied. "And please try to hurry up. The school is creepy at night."

"I'm the one who's scared easily?" I said, smirking. Keith ignored me.

I ran to Ms. April's classroom first, Keith rushing after me. We only paused once to catch a Bidoof in case I needed to break anything for the challenge.

"The clue for our classroom is this," Keith said. "What wasn't here during the daytime? And hurry up! Even our classroom is creepy." Not really. Okay, maybe a little bit. But I would never tell Keith that I was scared.

I knew I would have to break something! I decided to start by breaking the back of the room with the box right next to Ms. April's desk. I was glad I did because that was the box the styler was in. I picked it up and we went to the next room, Mr. Kincaid's.

"No hint for this room, just hurry up and find it!" Keith said when we entered the room.

"Okay, fine, no need to be pushy," I said. The styler in this room was hidden in plain sight on the shelves in the back of the room. After picking it up Keith and I continued to the Library. On the way I caught another Bidoof.

"The library is scary at night, too," Keith said. "Feels like someone is lurking. Get on with finding that styler. I wanna get out of here." Was everything scary to this guy?

I used the Bidoof I caught to break a box that was blocking my path. There were more boxes blocking our way after that. I had to catch another Bidoof to break it. The styler was sitting on top of a bookshelf. I had to stand on one of the chairs to reach it. When I grabbed it, Keith and I went to the staff room.

"The hint here is the styler doesn't stay still," Keith said. "Hurry up so we can get this over with."

I figured out pretty quickly that the Pichu in the back of the room had the last styler. All I had to do to get it was capture the Pichu and take it from him. "I got them all, Keith! Now what?" I said.

"Now we go to the basement and put them in front of the door there," Keith replied.

"Okay, let's go!" I said. We ran out of the staff room and down the stairs to the basement. There were a few boxes blocking our path, so it took a little bit longer than I had hoped.

"Hey, Sparkette," Keith said, as another Bidoof broke a box. "Do you believe in ghosts?" Well that came out of nowhere!

"Ghost people? No," I replied. "Ghost type Pokemon? I hate them. So much."

"Me too," Keith admitted. "But don't you dare tell anyone." I smiled, and nodded. Suddenly we heard a strange noise.

"Sparkette?" Keith said, his voice shaky. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, what could it be?" I replied, not really worried at all. It was probably a Bidoof or something. At least, I hoped it was. I hated to admit it, but Keith was right. The school was creepy at night. We continued to the door.

"Place them here," Keith said when we stopped by the door. I went to my pocket to pull out the stylers, but I stopped when I heard the strange noise again.

"Keith?" I said, slightly freaked out now. Okay, very freaked out now. "Was that you?"

"No…" he said, trembling. Suddenly, four Gastly appeared in front of us. Both of us jumped in surprise. "Sparkette, do something!" Keith screamed.

"Can't you do something?" I exclaimed.

"You have my styler!" Keith said. "So no."

"Fine," I said, readying my styler. "If I have to." I caught them easily, much to Keith's relief. And my relief as well. The Gastly that attacked us ran away. Good. I placed the stylers by the door, which suddenly burst open to reveal Mr. Kincaid.

"WHO'S THERE?" Mr. Kincaid shouted. Keith and I screamed. I honestly didn't know which was worse, the ghosts or the scary teacher. Mr. Kincaid glared at us. "The basement is off-limits to everyone but myself!"

"Oh, shoot!" Keith said. "Run for it!" We ran all the way back to our dorms from the basement. It was then I realised that I left the stylers.

"Keith, I'll be right back," I said as soon as we arrived back at the now empty common room. "I have to get the stylers back."

"Sparkette, are you crazy?" Keith yelled as I started to walk out of the common room. "Mr. Kincaid will kill you if he catches you!"

"Well then,I won't get caught!" I said with a smile as I walked down the rest of the stairs the main hallway. I continued down to the basement and bent down to pick up the fours stylers. Luckily, there weren't any ghost pokemon this time. I stopped short when I heard Mr. Kincaid talking to someone.

"Is something the matter, sir?" a male voice said.

"No it's nothing." Mr. Kincaid replied. "Just a Zubat causing minor disturbance. Incidentally, was the experiment a success?"

"It's impossible to say," the other voice said. It sounded a lot younger than Mr. Kincaid's voice. It might have been a student. "The control system isn't complete. But it is only a matter of adjustment now."

Mr. Kincaid sighed. "Isaac," he said. What? Isaac? "I'm counting you to succeed. Having said that, it is late. Let's call it a night on our research. No need for insufficient amounts of sleep tonight."

"Okay." Isaac replied. "I'll go back to my dorm, then. Good night Mr. Kincaid!"

Back to his dorm? Oh no! I grabbed the stylers and ran all the way back to the girl's dormitory before Isaac left the basement.

* * *

**So Keith totally loves Sparkette! I love these characters sooooo much XD**

**Have you noticed any changes yet? If you have, I salute you, good sir/ma'am!**


	2. Outdoor Class!

**I told everyone updates would be soon! Slightly shorter chapter, but whatevs. Keith is still an idiot**

**Disclaimer: i don't own Pokemon. I know everything about it, but I don't own it. Oh well**

* * *

I couldn't believe what I heard last night. Isaac? The blonde, mushroom haired brain boy from Mr. Kincaid's class? What was he doing down there? What experiment? Why Mr. Kincaid? I did not like that man! He scares me! It couldn't have been a school thing. It was way too late at night. Maybe I misheard Mr. Kincaid. Or maybe there was another Isaac in the school. An Isaac who isn't a student. I'm sure it couldn't have been him. Besides, I had never heard his voice before. It could be someone else. It had to be.

"Sparkette?" I turned. Rhythmi was standing behind me. "Your little sister wrote back."

She handed me a letter. I tore it open. It said:

_Dear Sparkette,_

_Thank you for writing! And congratulations for getting into the Ranger School! I have news for you too! Mama and Papa are thinking about moving over to the Almia region! _

_From, Lily_

I smiled and promised myself I would reply that night.

"By the way, good job on the challenge last night," Rhythmi continued. "You did it even faster than Keith!" The bell rang. "We better get to class. Come on!"

Rhythmi and I quickly changed into our green school uniforms and rushed downstairs to our classroom. Keith was already in there. As soon as we were in our seats Ms April started the lesson.

"Okay, I have a question for everyone," Ms April said. "What day is today?"

I was the probably the only one who was thinking it was the twenty-first, because everyone else shouted, "Outdoor class!"

"Come on, we wouldn't forget about outdoor class!" Keith said. I turned to him.

"Keith, what's outdoor class?" I whispered.

"You don't know?" he said, slightly louder than I wanted him to. "Well, I guess you did start yesterday. It's when both classes go out to Ascension Square and get their questions answered by a real live Ranger! It's so much fun!"

"I'm glad you all are enthusiastic about this!" Ms. April said. "Let's head out to the square now."

Everyone cheered. We walked out to the square as a group to find the other class already there. Isaac was standing in the front ot the class. "Yahoo!" Keith cried. "I'm so excited! I've waited so long for this!" He ran to stand next to Isaac in the front.

"Did Keith really just say 'yahoo'?" Rhythmi asked.

"I think he did," I replied. Why did he say 'yahoo'? Idiot… "Can we stand in the back?"

"Um, don't you want to stand with Keith and Isaac?" Rhythmi asked.

"Oh, um, that's good too," I said. We walked to the front next to Keith and Isaac. I had no idea what to think of Isaac after what I had heard the night before.

"Okay, everyone, let's start the lesson!" Ms. April said. "I'd like to introduce Crawford, a Ranger from the local base in Vientown. He is also a graduate of this school."

"Hi everyone!" The Ranger, Crawford, said. The afro was kind of distracting me. "As Ms. April said, I'm Crawford. This Budew here with me is what a Ranger calls a Partner Pokemon. It's the one Pokemon that always stays with you no matter how many times you use his or her poke assist in a capture." The Budew cried out. Everyone was completely silent. Crawford suddenly did a weird back flippy thing in the air. What? "That's what called a Ranger Pose , but I'm sure most of you know that." That was a weird Ranger Pose.

"It's great to see you again, Crawford!" Ms April said. "It's been a while. Without further ado, let's begin the main event! Let the questioning commence!"

"Crawford, why did you decide to become a Ranger?" the student who sits on the other side of Keith during class asked.

"Well, it's because I love Pokemon," Crawford said. "I wanted to become friends with them. You know, bond with them and stuff. Besides, it's a cool job!"

"I feel the same way!" the student replied. "I'm glad I asked you!"

"I have a question!" a female student from the other class said. "Which type of Pokemon is the hardest to catch?"

"Hmm, I would have to say either Psychic or ghost Pokemon," Crawford replied. "They have this habit of disappearing and reappearing during captures."

"Ghost Pokemon do that?!" the girl exclaimed. Yep. They do. I hated ghost Pokemon.

"Me next!" Rhythmi said. "My name is Rhythmi! There isn't anything I'd rather do than become an Operator. Do you think I could become one?"

"Well I only just saw you for the first time so it's not like I can tell…" Crawford replied. "But… Sure thing! You can definitely become an Operator!"

"That's right!" Rhythmi said. "Those are the words I wanted to hear!"

"Rhythmi…" I said. "Are you confusing this Ranger with a psychic?" Rhythmi giggled. She opened her mouth to speak, but got interrupted by Keith.

"Hey Ranger!" Keith said. "What about me? Can I become a Ranger?"

"Now you're doing it too?" I exclaimed. Keith grinned at me. "Is everyone this stupid here in Almia, or are you just special?"

"He's special," Crawford laughed, smiling at Keith and I. "I can't really tell you that, but I can say this: Your strong will shines through loud and proud. I'm sure you'll make it. Why, you might even become a better Pokemon Ranger than me!"

Keith looked very confused, but probably not as confused as the rest of us. "Uh… I'm sure you're right! Okay, on to question 37!" Really? He planned that as one of his questions? I thought he was just copying Rhythmi! Idiot...

"No fair, Keith!" the female student who sits next to Rhythmi exclaimed. "Only one question each! Ranger Crawford's busy, too. So, on to my question. Have you ever made any mistakes?"

"Mistakes, you ask?" Crawford replied, laughing. "That's all there was when I started! Like the time I spilled juice all over my styler! That was nasty. And the time I tried to catch a stuffed animal. Oh, and another time, I put Ranger Uniform on over my pajamas… Hold up, don't make me say these things!" Everyone laughed. I could honestly see Keith doing things like that!

"What makes you glad that you became a Ranger?" a male student from the other class asked.

"I have to say the smiles I get to see every day!" Crawford replied.

"I'd like to see smiles like that too!" the boy replied.

"That's the spirit!" Crawford said. "Keep that spirit burning, and you are sure to succeed! You know, I'm looking forward to working with some of you folks some day. Keep a positive attitude and keep working hard!"

"We will!" everyone shouted.

"My question next!" Ponte said. "Has Ms. April ever been mad at you?"

"I'll say she has!" Crawford replied. "She used to blow up at me once a day!"

Ms. April walked up behind me. Wow, was she seriously there the whole time? I never noticed her.

Now, you know that isn't true!" she said. "It wasn't once a day! It was at least three times a day!" She paused for a second. "But that's not the whole story. Crawford was a wonderful student. He kept everyone's spirits up with his kindness and sense of humor."

Crawford opened his mouth to reply, but a beeping sound stopped him. "Voicemail, Voicemail!" a voice said, coming from Crawfords styler. "This is Barlow! Do you hear me, Crawford? A mantine was hurt off the eastern shore of School Island. The mantine apparently ran into a cargo ship. Luana is heading to the school by boat for you. Meet up with, Crawford, and head to the site. We're going to need your help on this."

"Roger, leader!" Crawford said.

"So cool…" Everyone said.

"Sorry for cutting this short, everyone," Crawford said.

"There is no need to apologize!" Principal Lamont said. "Please report back to us on how this rescue goes!"

"I will," Crawford said. "Come on, Budew! Let's go save a Mantine!"

He ran of to my right where a boat was waiting for him on a pier I had never noticed before. Crawford hopped onto it. "Bye, everyone!"

The boat honked its horn and drove away.

"That was awesome!" I said. "It was great we got to see something so cool!"

"Well, everyone!" Ms April said. "That was the shortest Outdoor Class ever, but it was certainly the most gripping and realistic of all Outdoor Classes, too. Let's all return to our classes!"

All of the students around Keith, Rhythmi and I left, followed by the staff. Keith went to leave, but stopped short. "You know, I'm getting even more pumped up about becoming a Ranger!" Well that came out of nowhere! "I still have 37 questions left, but I'm sure I will find out the answers to them in time."

"A real Ranger guaranteed that I was going to become an Operator!" Rhythmi said, excitedly.

"Rhythmi, Crawford wasn't a fortune teller. That doesn't mean anything," I said, exasperated.

"Yeah, you have to grab hold of your dreams and make them come true yourself!" Keith said. Why are you talking? You did it it too!

"You think I don't know that?" Rhythmi said. "I'm going to do it! I'm going to make my dreams come true!"

"I'm not going to fail either!" I said.

"Me neither!" Keith agreed. "Not when I have a rival like you, Sparkette!" Keith's face brightened up like he had the best idea ever. "Hey, why don't the three of us make a pledge right here by the Pledge Stone?"

"Wow, Keith, that's actually a good idea!" I said. "What should we pledge?"

"Let's pledge to each other that we'll make our dreams come true!" Keith said.

"I'll pledge that!" Rhythmi said.

"Me too!" I agreed. All three of us walked up to the stone.

"I pledge to both of you that I will make my dream come true!" Rhythmi said.

"Same here!" Keith said.

"I pledge that all three of us will achieve our dreams together!" I said. All three of us held hands in a circle.

"The three of us will achieve our dreams!" We all shouted. When then dropped hands, and Keith grinned his amazingly goofy grin.

"Well that was corny!" he said happily.

I laughed. "It was your idea, genius!" I replied.

"Hey, well I have a better idea!" Keith exclaimed. "Sparkette, I challenge you! First one to the top of the Pledge Stone wins!"

"What?" Rhythmi exclaimed. "Keith, are you seriously suggesting that you climb the Pledge Stone?"

Keith nodded. "So, what do you say, Sparkette?"

I laughed. "Sure, Keith," I said. "Let's climb the Pledge Stone. Rhythmi, can you be the judge?"

Rhythmi sighed. "Okay…" she said reluctantly. "Just be careful."

"We will!" I said. "Are you ready, Keith?"

He nodded. "Let's do this!"

Climbing the Pledge Stone was a lot harder than it sounded. Since the stone was so smooth, it was slippery and there weren't many places to grab. I feel like Keith might have done this before, since he reached the top very quickly.

He laughed, smiling at me. "Here, Sparkette," he said, holding out his hand. I took it, and he pulled me up to the top. We sat together on the giant Ranger symbol. The view from the top was spectacular. The sun was setting over the ocean, and everyone back at school were just going about their normal lives. They didn't know what they were missing.

"Wow…" I breathed, pushing my brown bangs out of my eyes. "This is amazing!"

"I know, right?" Keith said, smiling. "That's why I like coming up here." I had never seen Keith like this. It was weird, it was like he wasn't a complete jerk.

"Ha! I knew you've been up here before!" I exclaimed, nudging Keith with my shoulder. "You tricked me!"

Keith laughed. "Yeah… sorry. It was just the first thing I could think of to get you up here. Hey, Rhythmi!" He called. "Come on up! The view's amazing!"

Rhythmi shook her head. "I've got a great view from down here!" She said, giggling. What was she talking about?

"What do you…" Keith started. Suddenly, his face went pink. "Oh… Um… let's go back to the school, Sparkette!"

He leapt off the statue, landing next to Rhythmi. They seemed to be having a conversation, but I couldn't hear what they were saying, although I could tell Keith was really mad at Rhythmi. I climbed down and ran over to them. "What was that all about, Keith?" I asked. "You just left me up there!"

"Sorry, I thought I heard the bell," Keith replied. Really? Cause I sure didn't hear it. "We should probably go back now."

"Okay," I said. "Let's go, Rhythmi." She nodded, and the three of us walked back to school together.

* * *

**Oh silly Keith and his 30-something questions. You are a fabulous human being**

**To be fair I would probably have that many questions too... you kinda have to wonder what they are, though. **

**Oh, and the torture for Keith begins! Rhythmi's figured it out! Now if only Sparkette would... **


	3. Voicemail, Voicemail!

**Ah, just another day at Ranger School! But where's Keith? And why is Mr. Kincaid such a jerk? I'm sure most of you already know, but still! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon Ranger. (Do I really have to say this every chapter? It will always be true)**

* * *

_Dear Sparkette, _

_Thanks for telling me about outdoor class! Oh, and Mama and Papa have decided that we are definitely moving out there! We are looking for a house right now! _

_From, Lily_

I was sitting in the common room waiting for Rhythmi when I read the letter. I was so happy my family was moving to the Almia region! I couldn't wait to see them again.

"Hey, Sparkette!" Rhythmi called from the door to the girls dorm. I looked up from my letter. "Did you hear that the Principal got called to the Ranger Union?"

"Yeah!" I replied. "So I guess the teachers are in charge in his absence."

"Speaking of absences, have you seen Keith?" Rhythmi asked.

"No, why?" I said.

"I haven't seen him since last night!" Rhythmi replied. "And I don't want to see him get on Ms. April's bad side!"

"We'd better hurry up so we don't get on her bad side!" I said, scooping up my styler and books from the table. "Let's go! Maybe Keith is already in class."

Rhythmi nodded. "Okay!" We rushed out of the common room, not thinking to ask any of the boys if they had seen Keith. When we got to the classroom we found that his desk was still empty. Where was he? I was getting worried… Rhythmi and I slipped into our desks just as the bell rang. Ms. April got out from behind her desk to start the lesson.

"Before I start today's lesson, I want to mention something," Ms. April said. "The Mantine that Crawford rescued a few days ago was taken under care of the Ranger Union. They are planning to release it into the wild today!"

Everyone cheered. "Now that we are all feeling good about that news, let's get our lesson started," Ms. April continued. "Today the topic for our lesson is the partnership between Rangers and operators." She paused to walk over to Rhythmi's desk. "If there is no trust between a Ranger and the Operator, it is disastrous. Even the simplest mission could become impossible to manage." She paused again, walking to my desk. "Rangers go where there are no roads to guide them. It's the job of the Operator to light the path when Rangers have no road." She walked back to the center of the room. "Of course, that doesn't literally mean using a flashlight to illuminate the path, but you get what I am saying. Operators support Rangers in other ways, like recharging stylers or other things like that. Operators can also send out messages through the Union's operation room. Does anyone know what they call that system?"

Rhythmi's hand shot into the air. "It's called voicemail!" She said when Ms. April nodded at her.

"Correct!" Ms April said. "However, you School Stylers are not equipped with the voicemail system. That is why…" She turned and placed two red stylers on her desk. She then faced her class again and continued. "We were able to borrow two real stylers for this lesson! Our principal asked the Ranger Union for them when he was there on business. We will use them today to demonstrate the field operations of a Ranger. Let's start with Rhythmi as the Operator and Keith as the Ranger."

I was surprised Ms. April hadn't noticed Keith wasn't in the room. "Um, Keith isn't here, Ms. April," I said.

Her eyes moved to the desk next to mine, Keith's. "Yeah, we haven't seen him since last night," Rhythmi confirmed.

"That's odd," Ms. April said. I was so happy she didn't get mad. She was probably in a good mood because the Mantine was safe."It's not like Keith to miss a class this important. Fine, we'll have Sparkette do the Ranger part." Ms. April took the two stylers from her desk

"Wow, this is so cool!" Rhythmi said. She pushed a button on the styler. "Hello, this is Rhythmi, can you hear me?"

"Rhythmi, I don't need the styler to hear you," I replied. "You are sitting right next to me."

"Oh," Rhythmi said. "Well, I guess we should get further apart so this actually works."

"I'll go out to the hallway," I said. Ms. April didn't complain as I got up from my desk and started to run out of the classroom. When I was about to open the door, Mr. Kincaid burst through it, pushing me back.

"Hey!" he said to me, his expression cold. "No running in the classroom either!" Of course that's his reaction to hitting me with a door. Mr. Kincaid turned to Ms. April. "Ms. April, I'm awfully sorry to disrupt your class."

"It's no problem at all!" Ms. April replied as Mr. Kincaid walked to the center of the room. "What can I help you with?"

"I would like to speak to one of you students," he replied. Oh no! He was probably going to yell at me about what happened in the basement. "I need to speak with Keith." That wasn't good either.

"Oh, well," Ms. April replied. "Keith is… running late today. It's not like him, but…" I was so glad Ms. April didn't seem to be mad at Keith. I didn't ever want to see her get mad, especially not at one of my friends.

"Late, you say?" Mr. Kincaid said. "You see, we have a problem on our hands. We had a number of Stylers stored in the staff room. Had, I say. Now, the entire lot of them are missing. I have already confirmed the innocence of my students. But that Keith boy is uncharacteristically absent from class. Perhaps it's taking him time to stash all those stolen stylers."

"Mr. Kincaid, Keith's not like that!" I said, stepping a little bit closer to Mr. Kincaid. I was glaring at him. I didn't care that he was a teacher, he just accused my best friend of robbery! "He's probably just sick or something!" Mr. Kincaid turned to me.

"And how am I supposed to know you weren't his accomplice in this?" he retaliated. "Maybe he asked you to say that." I scoffed, offended. I wouldn't do that!

"And I didn't see him in the boy's dorm this morning," the male student who sits on the other side of Keith said. "That's where he would have been if he were sick."

"That's not helping!" I shouted at him. Mr. Kincaid glared at me.

Rhythmi jumped up from her seat and ran over to us. "Sparkette and Keith aren't thieves!" she said. "Keith may be arrogant and a prankster, but he would never do that! And Sparkette is new, she wouldn't have even known where the stylers were."

"How would you be sure?" Mr. Kincaid retaliated. "Seeing as both of them run in the hallway and sneak around where they aren't supposed to!"

"Mr. Kincaid," Ms. April said. I was so happy she was standing up for Keith and I. "It's wrong to cast suspicion on others without proof. Give us some time to find Keith and the missing stylers."

All of the other students gathered around us shouting things like, "I'll help too!" Or "I know where we should look first!" Mr. Kincaid spun in a circle looking at everyone. He glared at me once again, as though it were somehow my fault all of the students were supporting Keith, then stormed out of the room. Ms. April soon followed him, along with the other students from my class. Soon Rhythmi and I were the only ones left.

"Hey, Sparkette!" She said. "Let's scour the schoolhouse from top to bottom. We have to prove yours and Keith's innocence!"

"We can use the voicemail system to communicate!" I suggested. "If anything comes up, we can contact each other without having to run all over the school to find the other person!"

"Great idea!" Rhythmi replied. "I'll start searching now. Voicemail me if anything comes up!" She walked out of the room leaving me alone. I walked out to the hallway to see that Rhythmi had already disappeared.

I decided to start my search in the common room. On my way there I noticed Mr. Kincaid had put up a barrier to block the stairs to the basement. Pretty much the second I got upstairs, the styler started beeping.

"Voicemail, Voicemail!" Rhythmi's voice called through the styler. "Can you hear me, Sparkette?"

"Loud and clear!" I replied. "What did you find?"

"Come and see for yourself!" She said. "I'm on the ground floor, come and meet up with me there."

I sighed, then ran back down the stairs. Rhythmi was standing in front of the school doors with Janice. Janice turned to me.

"I was getting ready to feed the Bidoof when I found a school styler on the ground," She said to me. "Did either of you drop yours?"

"No, we didn't," I replied. "But thank you for telling us! Rhythmi, let's go check out the school grounds. Thank you for the clue, Janice!"

Rhythmi and I ran out of the school. "Hey, look at that, Sparkette!" Rhythmi exclaimed. She walked to the center of the path where the Ranger sign was cut into the grass. A green styler was sitting there on the ground. We rushed over to it.

"Do you think this is one of the stylers that went missing?" I asked.

"It must be," Rhythmi replied. I picked it up off the ground.

"There might be more on the grounds!" I said. "Let's split up and look."

Rhythmi nodded and went toward the shed where you practiced captures. I headed down toward the exit of the school and saw another green styler sitting there.

"Rhythmi!" I called. "I found another one!" I picked it up off the ground. Rhythmi ran over to me.

"That's great!" she said. Suddenly I heard voices. "Sparkette, did you hear voices?" I nodded. Rhythmi sighed. "I'm glad I'm not hearing things! Let's go check it out!"

We rushed down the stairs that lead to the school gates. At the bottom we found Keith and some guy we didn't know.

"Keith!" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"And who is that man?" Rhythmi added.

Keith turned to us in shock. "Sparkette, Rhythmi!" he said, as the mysterious man started to back away from us. "The guys a stinking thief! When I was coming downstairs for class I saw him creep out of the Staff Room. I called after him, then Bam! He was off and running!"

The guy continued to inch backwards. "Three on one's not fair!" he said. "I'm scramming! Adios!" The man turned around and ran into a giant tree. "Dwah!" he cried. Four green stylers came flying out of his pocket. I was surprised there weren't more, seeing as he took every single one the school had. Suddenly a Slakoth fell out of the tree and landed on the man's head.

"Help!" he cried. "It's heavy! It hurts! It stinks! HELP!"

Rhythmi, Keith and I walked over to the man. Keith picked the stylers up from the ground. He laughed. "Ha! A Slakoth fell out from the tree! It serves you right! That's what you get for being a thief!"

"Keith aren't you going to help him?" Rhythmi asked.

"No, why would I?" Keith said. "He's a dirty, rotten thief! He doesn't deserve my help!"

"Well, if you won't help him, I will!" I said, pulling out my School Styler. I sent the disk out and caught the Slakoth (While it was still on the guy's head, mind you) in seven simple loops. After the capture was complete and the disc came back to me the Slakoth ran away, probably to find a better tree to take a nap in.

The man stared at me. "Thank you for saving me," he said.

Suddenly Ms. April walked down the stairs behind us. "What's going on here?" she shouted. I jumped. Where did she come from? "You two disappeared as well, and we were worried!" Rhythmi and Keith turned to face her. Ms. April sighed with relief. "Keith, you are safe as well. I'm glad." That was a quick change in attitude.

"Ms. April, this is the man who stole the stylers," Rhythmi said. "Keith and Sparkette had nothing to do with it."

Keith turned to the man. "Wait, why did you steal our stylers anyway?" he said. "Don't you know how important they are to us?"

"I'm sorry," The man said. "I've always wanted to be a Ranger, but I never did anything about it. I had so many other dreams I wanted to follow but I could never really decide what I wanted to do with my life. But the one dream I could never give up was the one to become a Ranger. I thought that if I had a styler I could do something about it, but…"

"What are you saying?" Ms. April said. "Please don't make me angry here! It doesn't matter how old you are! Even an adult can enter our Ranger School. With enough effort you could even become a Ranger! If you have a dream you can't let go of, only you can make it real!"

The man looked like he was about to cry. He ran up to Ms. April. "Te.. Teacher lady!" he said. "I also got bewitched when I saw all those stylers just sitting there. I was only hoping to get one but I ended up scooping the whole lot of them."

"Just the way it is with you and your dreams," Ms. April replied. "You're greedy, aren't you? You should go home and really think about what to do. Why not think about how you could become a Ranger properly?"

The guy sighed. "I'll do that," he said. He paused for a second, looking very confused. "Wait, go home? You'll just let me go home? Without a punishment or anything?" He looked like he could have hugged Ms. April. I braced myself to turn away if that happened, but luckily it didn't. "Thank you!" he said.

* * *

"...And so Keith was just trying to stop the man who had stolen the stylers," Ms. April had just finished telling the story of what happened to Mr. Kincaid and Principal Lamont in the staff room. "And Sparkette had nothing to do with it at all."

"Ah so that took place in my absence," Principal Lamont said. "Well, even though the thief got away I am glad nobody got hurt. Recovering the stylers was a bonus."

Mr. Kincaid grumbled, glaring at Keith and me. I really wanted to return the glare, but I didn't want to risk it with Principal Lamont in the room. "Keith and Sparkette get blamed because their everyday conduct is so deplorable," he muttered.

"I must say, I was impressed with Rhythmi's belief in her friends," Ms. April said, ignoring Mr. Kincaid. "That could be the most essential quality in an Operator!"

Rhythmi smiled and nervously giggled. Ms. April walked over to me. "Sparkette, your teamwork with Rhythmi and your capture were outstanding," Ms. April continued. "I could tell right away from the smile on the Slakoth's face."

I blushed. Ms. April moved on to Keith. "Keith, you are much too reckless," Rhythmi and I had to hold back laughter. "You must rely on your colleagues more. There is only so much a Ranger can do alone. I think one day you will be faced with a situation that makes you accept that. That said, there is no denying you did a good deed. Are you even paying attention?" I noticed Keith wasn't even looking at Ms. April. I think he was actually looking at me.

"Sparkette," he said, blushing. "Thank you for standing up for me. Even though it could have gotten you in trouble as well. That made me really happy." I smiled back at him.

Principal Lamont walked up to us. "Like the thief today, perhaps there are always shadows lurking in all of our hearts," he said. "What's important is to never give into the darkness in our hearts. It is as written as the books in the library. In the Almia region, there is a word. This word is vantonage. It means 'to reawaken light that has been submerged in darkness.' … today you all shine with the brilliance of vantonage! May you never lose that shine."

* * *

**So vantonage is mentioned for the first time here! (Yes it does become more important later) **

**And Keith is officially in the clear! He's still a complete idiot, but he's not a thief! **

**Next update coming soon! **


	4. Off to Vientown!

**Annnnnnnd we are back with another chapter of Shadows of Almia! It's time for Keith and Sparkette to go on their one day internships! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Oh well.**

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

_Dear Sparkette, _

_Thank you for writing! Voicemail, Voicemail! We chose where we are moving to. It's a house in a town called Chicole Village in Almia. We can see you when you graduate!_

_From, Lily _

Ms. April paced around the front of the classroom. She stopped in the center of her room in front of her desk. "Today," She said. "You finally get to go on your one-day internships!" Everyone cheered. I turned to Keith.

"What's a one-day internship?" I asked, under the cover of the noise.

"It's a day where each student gets to experience what it's like to be a real Ranger, Operator or Mechanic," he explained. "Everyone gets assigned a facility where the people who work there show us around and tell us what the job is really like."

Keith and I turned back to the front of the room. "I will give the assignments now," Ms. April said. "Get to your location as fast as you can and please be careful."

Ms. April walked around the class telling each individual student where they were going for their internship. Keith turned to me.

"Where are you headed, Sparkette?" He asked. "I'm going to the Ranger Base in Vientown."

"Me too!" I replied. "I'm so glad I have a friend going to the same place!"

"So am I!" Keith replied. He looked excited, but something in his voice sounded disappointed. Was it something I had said? Rhythmi walked over to us.

"I'm training to be an Operator, so I'm off to the Ranger Union," Rhythmi said. "Oh, that reminds me! Today's paper had a special on the Union!"

She pulled a newspaper out of her pocket. I took it from her. On it there was a picture of the Operation room and the chairperson at the union, Erma. There was also a picture of the Union. It kind of looked like a giant tree. It had a whole article on the Top Rangers.

"Cool…" I breathed.

"You can keep that one," Rhythmi said. "I have another copy back in the dorm. I'd better get going. Have fun today, Sparkette!" Rhythmi rushed out of the room.

"Sparkette, you ready to go?" Keith asked. I nodded. We ran out of the room, but had to walk after that because Mr. Kincaid was in the hallway glaring at us.

"Keith, did you hear someone cry for help?" I asked, as soon as I got outside.

"I think so. Let's go check it out," Keith replied. We ran down the stairs leading to the gate. When we got there, we found a guy clinging to a tree with two Bidoof bouncing around him. Why?

"Hey, it's Little Tim!" Keith exclaimed, much less confused than I was.

"Who's Little Tim?" I asked, turning to Keith.

"He's the local milkman," Keith replied. "Hey Little Tim, why are you in that tree?"

"Can't you tell?" The man shouted. "These Bidoof are attacking me!"

"Bidoof can't do anything to you!" I cried.

Keith pulled on my sleeve. "I forgot to mention he's scared of Pokemon," he murmured. Well that would have been nice to know!

"Help me!" Little Tim cried. "These Bidoof are going to kill me!"

The Bidoof bounced around the tree very happily for Pokemon out to murder someone. "Keith, let's just get this over with," I said.

"You take the one on the left, I take the one on the right?" Hh asked. I nodded and we charged at the Bidoof.

Something was strange about the Bidoof, but it wasn't too bad. It just took a little longer to catch them then it would have normally. Keith and I both had successful captures and let the Bidoof return to wherever they came from. Little Tim climbed down from the tree.

"Thank you, both of you!" he said. "By the way, I don't think I've seen you around before. What's your name?"

"I'm Sparkette," I replied. "I came from the Fiore region."

"She's awesome at captures," Keith continued. "Second only to me."

I paffed him. "Okay, maybe we're tied!" he said.

"No wonder I haven't met you yet!" Little Tim said. "I run a small dairy farm with my family in Vientown, so I better get going. I hope to see you again!" Little Tim walked off of school grounds.

"Oh, shoot!" Keith exclaimed suddenly. I jumped. "We're late for our one-day internships!"

"Oh no!" I cried. "We'd better hurry!" Keith and I rushed out through the gate, only to be stopped again by a little girl standing on the bridge right outside the school.

"I came to see him, but…" she said.

"Keith, do you know who this is?" I asked.

Keith shook his head. "I've never seen her before in my life. Sure is cute though."

"Who are you looking for?" I asked the girl kindly, kneeling down so I was closer to her height.

"My big brother…" She replied. "He's not here."

"Your big brother, huh?" Keith said, joining me in front of the girl. "Who might that be?"

Suddenly, Ponte walked up to us. "Hi, what's going on?" he said.

"Melody!" I stiffened. That voice… it was the same one that I heard Mr. Kincaid talking to! I turned to see Isaac running down the bridge. He stopped in front of the little girl. "Melody, what are you doing here?" There was no mistaking it. The voice I heard that night was this Isaac's. What experiment was he doing with Mr. Kincaid?

"Isaac!" the girl cried. "I came to meet you!" she ran up to Isaac and hugged his leg. It was actually kind of adorable.

He hugged her back, but quickly let go. "Melody, didn't I tell you not to come here alone?" He asked her, kneeling in front of her.

"I'm sorry," Melody replied. "I just wanted to see you!"

"Melody, you're still a little kid. That's why I worry about you." Isaac said. He stood up. "Well, I guess I should introduce you to my friends."

Friends? I barely knew him, and I didn't even like him that much! This was the first time I had ever even heard him talk! "This is Ponte, Keith, and Sparkette. This is my little sister Melody."

"Nice to meet you," I said, smiling at Melody. How did Isaac know my name?

Melody smiled. "Melody, I'm not angry anymore," Isaac said. "Let's go home together."

"Okay!" Melody said.

Isaac and Melody walked off the bridge, followed by Ponte. "Bye big brother's friends!" Melody called as she stepped off the bridge.

"We have to get moving, too!" Keith exclaimed.

"I'm beginning to think the universe doesn't want us to go to Vientown." I said as we started to run toward Vientown.

Luckily we didn't run into any more distractions and made it to Vientown pretty quickly. I was glad it was so close to the school.

"I guess this is the place!" Keith said as we stopped in front of a building with a grass roof in the middle of town. "Are you ready?"

"I am, but the real question is if you are ready!" I replied. "You're shaking all over!"

"I'm totally ready!" Keith said, and he burst through the door. I followed him. The inside of the base was a lot less impressive than I thought it would be, with a grassy floor and a small river outlining the inside of the base. There was also a counter in the back corner, and a door that lead to who knows where. The other important thing was that it was completely empty.

"Hello?" Keith called. "Is anyone there?"

"We're here for our one-day internships!" I continued.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" A small voice said. "I have something for you two!"

Keith and I looked over at the desk that was previously empty to see a purple haired girl standing there. "I'm the operator here."

We rushed over to the desk. "Hi!" I said, trying to contain my excitement.

"What do you have for us?" Keith said, before I could say anything else. "And where is everyone else?"

"They all got called out on an important mission, but our leader left this letter for you," she replied, handing Keith the letter. He opened it and read it silently, leaving me to read it over his shoulder. It said: Welcome to the both of you! Here's a mission from the get go! I've left an extremely important parcel with our operator. Collect it from her and bring it to Breeze Hill.

"Wow, a mission from the get go!" Keith cried, excited.

"I have the parcel right here for you," The operator said. She pulled it out from under the counter and handed it to me. I took it carefully. "Now make sure to be extremely careful, never drop it, never turn it on it's side, and never ever flip it upside down!"

"I won't," I said.

"Aww, come on Sparkette!" Keith complained. "I want to carry it!"

"No," I said, holding the parcel out of his reach. "I don't trust you to hold this. You would drop it, or something horrible like that," I said. Keith tried to get it, but I wouldn't let him have it. The operator laughed.

"You two are so cute!" she said. Keith immediately stopped fighting, and I held the parcel lower. "I hope I get to see you again! Breeze hill is just east of here."

"Thank you!" Keith said, doing a little bow, then running outside. I repeated his bow, but walked out slowly so I wouldn't shake the parcel.

"Keith, slow down!" I called as I stepped outside. "I can't run while I'm holding this!"

"Oh, right!" Keith replied. "I'll slow down. I'm just so excited!"

"So what do you think is in this parcel?" I asked, as Keith and I walked through town together.

"Well, we'll find out when we get to Breeze Hill," Keith said. "It must be really important, though! If it's so fragile that we can't even turn it on it's side…"

We reached Breeze Hill pretty quickly, it wasn't too far away and Keith seemed to know the way. "Why are there stairs leading up to a hill?" Keith asked, as we climbed up metal stairs to reach Breeze Hill.

"How am I supposed to know?" I replied. "You've lived here longer than me, if any one of us would know it would be you."

We stopped on the last step of the staircase. Keith took a deep breath in. "Are you ready, Sparkette?" He asked. I nodded. "Good. Because I'm not quite sure I am."

We stepped onto the hill, where we found Rangers just standing around. We stepped up to them, and Keith introduced himself. Or, at least tried to.

"Hellomeetcha!" Keith nearly shouted. Even I jumped back a little, then I facepalmed. Did Keith seriously just say that? Great job making a good first impression, Keith! It was like 'yahoo!' all over again.

The Rangers turned to us. The one with reddish hair walked up to us. His Partner Pokemon followed him. He seemed to be the other Ranger's leader.

"Did you just say 'Hellomeetcha'?" He asked. Even he was as confused as I was! "I guess you're nervous, huh? Well, that's not hard to understand. After all, this is a key mission. So… the extremely important parcel. I fully expect it to be safe."

"It is," I said, holding it up a little bit.

"Hand it over, but be gentle!" The man said. "One careless shake and it's Ka-plow!"

Carefully, I passed him the package. He took it like it was a baby. He then set it carefully on the ground, then called out to his friends. "Okay, everyone!" He shouted. "Gather 'round! Lunch's here!"

Lunch?

All of the Rangers gathered around a red and white cloth in the middle of the hill I hadn't noticed before. Keith stared at them open mouthed.

"I was getting impatient for this!" One of the girls said.

Crawford turned to us and laughed. "Oh, the stunned looks on your faces!" He exclaimed. "Come join us!"

The man who had welcomed us earlier stepped to the other side of the cloth, clearing a space for Keith and I to stand. "Good work, to both of you!" The man who had moved said. "That's Mission Cleared! My name's Barlow. I'm the leader of this Ranger Base. This is my Partner Pokemon, Makuhita!"

The Makuhita beside him cried out.

"Oh, there's another thing…" Barlow said. "This prank… it isn't my doing. Crawford thought it up."

Crawford turned to Barlow. "That's not fair, leader!" Crawford exclaimed. "You're the one who was going on about what a great idea it was!"

The girl standing next to Crawford was the next to speak up. "My name is Luana," She said. "I fell for this same prank a year ago! But in my case, the lunches were all smushed up from me swinging the parcel around! I'm pleased to meet you! This Buneary is my Partner Pokemon! Isn't she cute?"

The Buneary hopped up and down and let out its cry.

"I'm not a Ranger," The girl on the other side of the cloth said. "I'm a mechanic. My name is Elaine, but don't worry if you can't learn all of these names at once."

Keith was still staring open mouthed at the scene in front of him, so I spoke up for him. "My name is Sparkette," I said. "And this…" I pushed Keith forward. "Is Keith."

"Hello…" Keith said in awe. "Um… we're reporting for our one-day internship!"

"Oh?" Barlow said. "Starting to feel at ease now? Sorry for tricking you two like that. It's become a tradition for us."

"That's enough introduction!" Crawford said. "Let's feast on this extremely important parcel they kindly delivered."

Crawford ripped open the parcel, revealing a picnic basket. Inside, there were sandwiches, fruits, and a few baguettes.

"Let's get started with our Trainee welcome lunch!" Barlow shouted.

"Wow, the food even looks delicious!" Elaine exclaimed. "It's not like last years!"

"We're sure glad to hear that!" Keith replied. Why was he talking, I was the one who carried the parcel!

"So did you guys come up here from Nabiki Beach?" Crawford asked, biting into a sandwich. I had no idea what he was talking about, but Keith nodded. "That's where I met my Partner Pokemon. I'll never forget that."

"Wow!" Keith said. "I hope I can meet my Partner Pokemon soon!"

"Your uniforms…" Luana said. "They bring back so many memories! Are you two enjoying school?"

I nodded. "I only joined a few weeks ago, but it's great!" I replied.

"Isn't this place nice?" Elaine said. "I love coming here!"

Keith nodded. "Yeah, it's really relaxing. I can see why you like it," he said politely. So this is what he acted like in public! He was completely different when he was just around his friends.

"So is this your first time in Vientown?" Barlow asked. Keith shook his head, but I nodded. "It's a laid back country town. Not much happens here. It's not like a movie or game."

Keith laughed and turned to me. "We were told not to turn the parcel on it's side," he said. "Well, no wonder! It was everyone's lunch!"

Before I could reply a man came running up the hill. "Help! Rangers!" He cried, his voice frantic. "Pokemon have gone wild!"

I turned to him. "Pokemon gone wild?" I said. That didn't sound good. "What happened?"

"We were down on the beach when the Pokemon there started acting mean!" The man replied. "They've surrounded my girlfriend and won't let her go!"

"Okay, I get the picture," Barlow said. "We'll handle the rest from here." He turned to us. "Everyone! This is an emergency mission. We're taking a break from lunch! To Nabiki Beach! Hurry!"

The Rangers rushed toward the beach. "Let's follow them, Keith!" I said. "Come on!"

I dragged Keith down the hill where we nearly ran into Barlow at the beach. On the beach there was a circle of Pokemon surrounding a girl, running around in circles.

"We have to clear this mess up!" Barlow shouted.

"What happened to these Pokemon, anyway?" Crawford exclaimed.

"They look like they could be dancing…" Elaine said.

"They're friendly and docile Pokemon, really!" An old man said. "They're not like themselves!"

"Please, do something!" The girl surrounded by Pokemon shouted. "Hurry!"

"Okay, people! Listen up!" Barlow shouted. "Crawford and I will capture the Shellos! Luana, Keith and Sparkette! You three can catch the other Pokemon!"

Everyone disbanded and rushed down the stairs to the beach. Before I could head down as well, the old man stopped me.

"They're good Pokemon, really!" he said. "I don't know what's gotten into them! Pachirisu, Munchlax and Starley, they're all adorable and reliable as well! Why, if I were a Ranger I would be honored to have them all as my Partner Pokemon! I beg you, please calm them down!"

"I'll do what I can!" I replied, rushing down the stairs.

Keith and Luana were busy capturing the Starly and the Munchlax respectively, so that only left the Pachirisu. I readied my styler then rushed up to it.

I started to draw loops around it quickly, and was finished with the capture before I knew it! It attacked me a few times, but I managed to dodge and everything worked out. Everyone else had already finished their captures as well.

"Good work, everyone!" Barlow said. "The Pokemon seem to have calmed down. Let's release them."

I kneeled down and faced the Pachirisu. "Okay little buddy, it's time for you to go home!" I said. Pachirisu shook it's head. "Come on! Don't you want to go back to your friends?"

"Sparkette?" Keith asked. I looked up. All of the other Pokemon had been released. "Did you ever learn how to release Pokemon?"

"Of course!" I said. "Pachirisu just doesn't want to leave."

The couple that we helped walked toward Barlow. I took a step back to clear the way. Pachirisu followed me.

"Thank you for saving my girlfriend!" The man said.

"We heard strange noises from the sea," The girl said. "We noticed a big cargo ship pull away and disappear over the horizon. And then, all of a sudden, I was surrounded by Pokemon! I think they were startled by the cargo ship!"

"Well, whatever happened I'm glad you two are safe," Barlow said. "Crawford and Luana, sweep the beach, alright? Just to be on the safe side."

"Roger that, leader!" Crawford cried.

"Understood!" Luana said.

"Sparkette, Keith, good work!" Barlow said. "It's Mission Clear!"

Keith and I did our Ranger Poses at the exact same time. "Well, I'll be!" Barlow said. "You've already got your Ranger Poses! Looks good, too! Anyway… we should head back to the Ranger base." Barlow started to head back toward town, but then stopped. "Oh, wait! We need to clean up after lunch. Sparkette and Keith, you two can meet us back at the base. We'll do all the cleaning to make up for that prank. Let's move, people!"

Keith and I headed back to the Ranger base alone. Pachirisu left us at the beach, It was a bit of a shame… I really liked that Pachirisu. She was so cute!

It took a while, but the Rangers from the base returned.

"Well, the rest of the sandwiches we brought back have been 'cleared'," Barlow said. "There's nothing left on the agenda. It's time we say goodbye to them. Sparkette and Keith, don't forget those captures you did today."

"It'd be neat if both of you were assigned to our base!" Crawford said. "We'll be sure to keep you busy delivering our lunches!" Keith and I laughed feebly, not sure if he was kidding or not.

"Ya know, Crawford was really looking forward to today," Luana said. "He was saying how he would get to see those kids from Outdoor Class again."

"Your Ranger Poses were really cute!" Elaine said. Was Elaine shy? She didn't seem to talk as much as the others.

"Everyone, thank you so much!" Keith exclaimed. "We'll never forget what we experienced today!"

"We guarantee it!" I interjected. "Thank you!"

"Goodbye!" Keith and I said together as we started to walk out the door. We didn't quite make it, though, because just as we were about to exit a man with white hair walked in, causing us to step aside. Keith almost fell into the river that was outlining the base, which made me laugh.

"Ah, what have we here?" he said. "What is this gathering about?" He turned to Keith and me. "Hm? Are you Ranger School students?"

I nodded. "Yes. We are here on our one day internships."

"Ah! I see!" The man exclaimed. "Come to think of it, we had a girl come to the Ranger Union on a one day internship. She had her mind set on becoming an operator, that cheerful lass. I do believe her name was something like… Misery? Something like that…"

Keith and I snickered, knowing that the girl he was talking about was Rhythmi. The man scanned us. "Well, I've memorized your faces!" He exclaimed. That's not creepy at all… "I hope we get to work together in the near future!"

Keith and I left the Ranger Base without another word. When we got outside, we found an unexpected visitor waiting for us.

"Pachirisu?" I said. "What are you doing here?"

Barlow and Crawford came out from the Ranger Base. "What's all the shouting out here?" Barlow asked. "Is there a problem?"

"This is the Pachirisu from the beach," I replied, petting the Pokemon's head. "It followed me here."

"Oh, I get it!" Crawford exclaimed. "She must've come to see you, Sparkette, because she was happy about being captured."

Pachirisu jumped up and down in delight.

"That sounds possible," Barlow said. "But these two aren't Rangers yet. At least, not officially. We can't permit you to have a Partner Pokemon."

I picked up the Pachirisu. "But Barlow…" I started.

"I know it's disappointing, but not this time," Barlow interrupted. "Not now." I looked up at him with sad eyes. He sighed. "I guess it's okay if you stay with Pachirisu a little bit longer, but make sure your release it before you get to school."

I smiled, and nodded. "Thank you, Barlow!"

"Sparkette, we better hurry up!" Keith exclaimed. "It's getting late, we don't want Ms. April to get mad at us!"

I nodded, and set Pachirisu back on the ground. "Let's go!"

We rushed back down the path to the School, with Pachirisu following us. We stopped in the middle of the bridge leading to the school.

"You should probably release that Pachirisu now," Keith said.

I sighed. "I know. It's a shame to see her go, though."

I picked up Pachirisu again. "I'm sorry, but you have to go now," I said. I kneeled down to set Pachirisu on the ground gently. She stared at me for a while, but then ran off.

"Let's keep moving, Sparkette," Keith said. He helped me up off the ground, and we started to continue down the bridge, but we were stopped by someone calling out to us.

"Hey! Wannabe Rangers!" A girl's voice called. We turned to see Rhythmi standing on the edge of the bridge. She ran up to us.

"Are you getting back now?" She asked. "How did it go as Rangers?"

"It was awesome!" Keith exclaimed. "As soon as we got there, we were assigned a mission!"

"Oh, but it was top secret," I continued. "Can't give out any details."

"Well, I went through a lot, too!" Rhythmi said. "Professor Hastings kept on mistaking my name for Misery, for one thing." So that's who that guy back at the Ranger Base was! "It's going to get dark soon, we should get going."

"Yeah, let's report our days later when we get back," I said. "Ms. April is probably waiting for us."

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**And we are almost done with Ranger School... :( But that means we are getting into the awesomeness that is the main story! **

**Next update coming soon! **


	5. Graduation

**So this chapter is extremely short. Sorry**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy! I don't own Pokemon!**

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_Dear Sparkette,_

_You're going to be graduating soon! Did you hear our news? The three of us are very close to you now because we moved to Chicole Village yesterday!_

_From, Lily_

I smiled as I tucked Lily's letter into my pocket. I met up with Keith and Rhythmi in the common room, and we headed down to class together.

"Well class," Ms. April said after the bell rang. "This will be the last time I speak to you like this in our classroom… Yes, today is the Ranger School's graduation day! I imagine you all have lots to talk about before the ceremony, so this is free time. Feel Free to visit the other room and say your goodbyes. But remember, when you hear the bell be sure to gather in the main hall."

"We will!" All of the students said.

I turned to Keith, smiling. "Wow, I can't believe it's already Graduation day!" I said.

"I know, it feels like you just joined here a few days ago!" Keith replied. "It's a shame we all got assigned to different bases, though… I mean, I'm off to a whole different region!"

"Yeah, and I'm going to Vientown. I'm going to miss you and Rhythmi!" I exclaimed.

"We'll miss you too, Sparkette!" Rhythmi said, walking up to us. "Take care of Almia for us!"

"I will," I replied. Rhythmi was also going to the Fiore region. "I'm going to visit Isaac and Ponte, want to come with me?" I still might not trust Isaac, but we had gotten closer in the past week since one day internship, and it would be nice to go with Keith and Rhythmi. One last adventure together.

"Maybe later," Keith replied. "I want to say goodbye to everyone here first."

"And I need to talk to Ms. April," Rhythmi said. "Sorry, Sparkette. See you at the graduation ceremony!"

"Okay," I said, forcing a smile. I wish they were coming with me! I really didn't want to go there alone! But now that I said that was where I was going, I really had no choice. At least Ponte would be there. Him I liked. "See you later!"

I rushed over to the classroom next door, where I found Isaac and Ponte. I kind of wished they were in my class so I didn't have to endure the horrible stench in Mr. Kincaid's room whenever I wanted to see them. Oh, and I had to endure their jerk of a teacher. "Hi!" I said, speed walking up to them. "Are you excited for graduation?"

"Hi, Sparkette!" Isaac replied. "Yes, I'm going off to Altru Inc!"

"Where's that?" I asked, confused.

"Oh, you haven't heard of it?" Isaac exclaimed. "I guess that makes sense, since you are still pretty new here. Maybe I'll get the chance to show it to you some time!"

"That would be great!" I replied, with a fake smile on my face. "Ponte, what are you going to do?"

"Honestly, I have no clue!" Ponte replied. "But I'm sure I'll figure it out!"

"Sparkette, it's weird to see you alone," Isaac said. "Where are Keith and Rhythmi?"

"They stayed behind in the other classroom," I replied. Mr. Kincaid started walking up to me. "I'm probably going to go back now. See you guys later!"

I walked out of the classroom before Mr. Kincaid could yell at me for something or other, then broke out into a run when I reached the hallway. I rushed back to my classroom, only to be stopped by the bell ringing right as I stepped in. Keith ran up to me.

"What are you standing around for, Sparkette?" he said. "Let's get going!" We walked out of the room, along with Rhythmi, who had been talking to another student, and rushed over to the staircase, which is where the graduation ceremony was taking place. We stood in the front with Isaac, Ponte, and some random student from the other class. I stood in between Keith and Isaac. When everyone was there, Mr. Kincaid started the ceremony.

"The Ranger School graduation ceremony will now commence!" Mr. Kincaid announced. Everyone cheered. "First, Principal Lamont's opening remarks!" Mr. Kincaid continued.

Principal Lamont stepped forward. "Congratulations, Graduates!" he said. "I'm truly glad I can be here to greet this day with all of you! Rangers, Operators, and Mechanics, though these paths may take you in different directions, what I hope for all of you is but the same! Don't worry, I'm not going to say anything too complicated. Just don't forget to smile! That is all I wish of you. With these simple words, I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors!"

"Thank you, Principal Lamont," Mr. Kincaid said. Why was he in charge of the ceremony? "Next, let me call up this class's valedictorian. That would be our best student, Isaac."

Everyone cheered, but Keith, Rhythmi, Ponte and I cheered the loudest. Of the students, anyway. Mr. Kincaid was cheering louder than the four of us combined. Isaac stepped up to stand in front of his class.

"Today, we leave the shelter of this place of learning and nurturing," Isaac said. "It is a giant step for us in our pursuits of our long-held dreams. To the teachers who inspired us… To Janice, who was mother to us all… to all the Pokemon that loved us… and to all the books of the Library…! We will never forget. Thank you so very much from all of us!"

We clapped and cheered again as Isaac walked back to his seat next to me.

"Isaac, thank you for those most moving words," Mr. Kincaid said. I think it was the first time I saw him genuinely smile. "Next the conferring of the graduation certificates."

"I would like to call upon one student as the representative of the graduating class," Ms. April said. "Sparkette. Please step forward."

Keith turned to me. "Woah, you're the representative!" he said. "That's so cool Sparkette!" I was surprised Keith wasn't jealous. Everything was a competition with him, what was up?

I started to walk toward the Principal, but a large rumbling sound stopped me in my tracks.

"What was that?" I asked.

"An explosion?" Keith guessed.

"That noise came from the basement!" Rhythmi exclaimed.

"Everyone, calm down!" Ms. April said. I turned to her. She pulled me out of the way as Mr. Kincaid rushed toward the Principal.

"I… I'll go see what that was!" Mr. Kincaid said. He rushed down the stairs to the basement. That was probably the fastest I had ever seen him move.

"I wonder what's going on," I said, turning to Keith and Rhythmi.

"We'll find out soon," Rhythmi replied. "I'm sure Mr. Kincaid can deal with it, whatever it is." Sure, leave it to the one teacher I don't like. That would be great!

"Waah!" we heard Mr. Kincaid shout. "Stop! Stop that!" That didn't sound good…

Two Tangrowth burst through the door of the basement. Some girl screamed.

"Run!" Keith shouted.

As the entire school ran down the hall, the Tangrowth stepped down the stairs from the little ledge and stood in the middle of the hallway. Keith and I were standing in the front of the group.

"Sparkette, let's capture these things!" Keith exclaimed.

"I'll take the one on the left!" I replied.

Keith nodded, and ran up to the Tangrowth on the right, readying his styler.

I rushed up to the other one, also readying my styler.

The Tangrowth was the hardest thing I had ever captured. It took a long time, and it attacked every few seconds. It also did not want to be caught! It was really annoying! It may have taken a while, but Keith and I finally finished our captures.

"Sparkette, we did it!" Keith exclaimed, panting.

We released the Tangrowth, and the ran outside the school. Rhythmi walked up to us.

"You two are awesome!" She exclaimed, smiling. Keith and I looked at each other, then did our Ranger Poses.

Mr. Kincaid came back from the basement, and all of us gathered around the ledge again. "Mr. Kincaid!" the principal said. "You're not hurt, all you?"

"I...I think… yes I'm fine!" Mr Kincaid stuttered. "I must admit, even I couldn't tell what was happening…"

Isaac's expression caught my attention. He looked like he knew exactly what was going on, and that he couldn't believe it had just happened. Did these Tangrowth have something to do with the experiment he was doing? Oh well, I guess it was too late to find out now…

"Ah, so even Mr. Kincaid is at a loss to why those Tangrowth rampaged…" Principal Lamont said. "That's a shame. The important thing, however, is that no one got hurt. Shall we continue with the graduation ceremony?"

Mr. Kincaid nodded, and went back to his spot.

Ms. April turned to the crowd. "I would like to call upon one student as the representative of the graduating class," She said again. "Sparkette, please step forward."

I once again walked up the steps to meet the Principal. On the way I realised that Mr. Kincaid was once again glaring at me. What did I do, save all of the students from angry Tangrowth? Was that really a good reason to be glaring at me? "Sparkette and Keith," The principal said. "Thank you for coming to the protection of the school. It was very impressive to see you calmly go about your captures with no panic. You provided everyone with a good example of taking charge in a crisis. Now, as representative for the graduating class, I present you this certificate." Principal Lamont handed me a certificate, and I went back to my spot next to Keith. He was smiling at me.

"Congratulations, Sparkette," he whispered.

"Thanks!" I replied in the same hushed tone.

"Now, the time has come for all of you to set sail into the vast horizon that is your future," Principal Lamont said, stepping forward. Mr. Kincaid was smiling again. For some odd reason, though, it was in the direction of Keith and I. Maybe he was thinking about how peaceful the school would be without us. Either that or he was actually smiling at Isaac, who was standing next to me. "In closing, I will say this once again, Don't forget to smile! Congratulations, grads!"

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**So our adventures in Ranger School come to an end! I'm really going to miss Keith and Rhythmi. :'( (And sparkette is certainly going to miss Keith!) **

**So... i don't really have anything to say on this chapter. Next update will be soon!**


	6. Character Profiles: Ranger School

**So I just realized you guys know practically nothing about these chara****cters. Nothing about their personalities or anything like that. So, since I had nothing better to do tonight, I made character profiles for a few people. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own these characters! They belong to Pokemon! I wish I owned them because they are all so awesome!_  
_**

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Sparkette(13): Moved to Chicole Village in Almia from Summertown, Fiore with dreams of becoming a Ranger. Normally lives with her parents, and her little sister, Lily. She is very competitive, but only with Keith, and very stubborn. When she has her mind set on something, practically no one can stop her. Is completely oblivious to love. She just doesn't understand it at all. Her best friends are Keith and Rhythmi. She will do anything for them. Other friends include Ponte, Crawford, Luana, Elaine, and to a lesser extent, Isaac. She absolutely adores electric type Pokemon, and despises ghosts. Hates Mr. Kincaid with a burning passion. Thinks Keith is an idiot, but is still close friends with him.

Keith(14): Has lived in Pueltown his entire life. Also dreams of being a Ranger. He is stupid, rash, arrogant, and competitive. He can be a jerk at times. And yet, he's kind, caring, supportive, and funny. Has a huge crush on Sparkette, which probably explains why he is a jerk to her. His best friends are Sparkette and Rhythmi. Other friends include Isaac, Ponte, and Crawford. He also hates ghost Pokemon, and Mr. Kincaid. He wants to always be there for Sparkette, no matter what happens.

Rhythmi(13): Also lives in Pueltown. She dreames of becoming an Operator. She's very social, and is friends with pretty much everyone she meets. She's very nice and pretty smart. Her favorite pass time is teasing Keith about Sparkette. But even so, she will be there for you in both good and bad times. Her best friends are Keith and Sparkette, and her friends are everyone else. Really wishes Sparkette would realize how Keith feels about her, and is probably lucky Sparkette is so oblivious.

Isaac(13): Lives in Pueltown with his little sister and grandparents. Is extremely smart. Some might consider him to be a "once in a century" genius. He considers himself to be close friends with Sparkette, and doesn't really notice that she doesn't like him that much. Is good friends with Keith, Rhythmi, and Ponte. Seems to be a pretty nice guy. Although, we have to wonder about what happened in the basement with Mr. Kincaid...

Ponte(14): The Ranger School's conflicted marshmallow boy. He doesn't know what he wants to do with his life, but is always cheerful and upbeat. Good friends with Isaac, Keith, Sparkette, and Rhythmi.

Mr. Kincaid(mid thirties, I guess): A teacher at the Ranger School. Has a strong vengeance toward Keith and Sparkette, for unknown reasons. His favorite student is Isaac. He could care less about the rest of the Ranger School's students. His favorite saying is no running in the hallways. Way too big of a jerk to be working with Isaac.

Ms. April(mid thirties): Another teacher at the Ranger School. Is much kinder than Mr. Kincaid. Sparkette, Rhythmi, and Keith are all in her class. She somehow manages to deal with the craziness of Keith and Sparkette.

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**So, yeah. These are the character files from when we first meet these characters. They will change in time. I will probably do this again a little later in the story, when we meet the villains! This was mainly so I could have one more thing with Keith and Rhythmi before they go away for a while, but it's actually pretty helpful. I didn't know half of this stuff until I wrote it! XD Oh well. Anyway, next chapter should be up tomorrow!**


	7. Vientown's new Ranger

**It's time to start Sparkette's adventures as a Vientown Ranger! I don't have much to say on this chapter, so I shall quote the movie Meet the Robinsons, "I've got a big head. And little arms. And I'm not so sure how well this plan was thought through!" **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or Meet the Robinsons**

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"Sparkette, it's morning! ...Sparkette? Come on, wake up! Listen, Sparkette. This isn't a letter, you know? … WAKE UP!"

My eyes shot open, to see my little sister's face in mine. I stumbled backwards. "Lily!" I shouted. "Don't do that!"

Lily just laughed. "Guess what?" She said. Before I could reply, she continued. "Starting today, you're a Pokemon Ranger!"

"I know!" I said. "I'm so excited!"

"Are you excited enough to get going?" Lily asked. "You're going to be late if you don't leave soon!" She left my room and headed down for breakfast, her pigtails bouncing as she walked.

I looked at the clock on my wall. It was already eight thirty! I needed to be in Vientown by nine!

"Oh no!" I exclaimed. I pulled on my green school uniform, (all of my clothes hadn't been unpacked yet), and rushed downstairs.

"Good morning, Sparkette!" My mother said as I ran down the stairs. "How do you like your new room? Did you sleep well?"

I nodded. "I need to get going, mom!" I said.

"Take some breakfast before you leave!" She said. I nodded and grabbed a piece of toast and rushed out the door.

Luckily the path to Vientown was pretty straightforward and I was there in no time. I rushed into Vientown, where I nearly ran into Luana.

"Hi, Sparkette!" She said, not phased at all by the fact that I almost knocked her over. "I was looking forward to your arrival, so I came to meet you!"

"Hi, Luana," I replied, smiling. "It's great to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too!" Luana said. "Come on, let's head to the base!"

Luana and I rushed down the road that lead to the Ranger Base. Inside, we found everyone waiting to greet me.

"Sparkette, you little so-and-so!" Barlow said as Luana and I walked into the base. "What made you come here?" Barlow burst out laughing. "Welcome aboard! Oh, before that, there's something I forgot to say. Congratulations on graduating Ranger School!"

"We heard about your heroics at the Graduation Ceremony, too!" Elaine said.

"I heard Keith became a Ranger as well!" Crawford said.

I nodded. "Yeah, but he's off to the Fiore region…" I sighed, staring at the ground.

"That's a shame," Crawford said. "Now we only have one of you to do our lunch deliveries!" I didn't reply, I simply stared at the ground.

Barlow walked up to me. "Just a fair warning, you'll be stuck hearing Crawford's jokes from now on," he said. "You'll have to get used to it."

"Sparkette, you should get changed," Luana said. "The changing room is through that door there." She gestured to the only other door in the building. I walked through the door, where I found a red Pokemon Ranger uniform waiting for me. I slipped it on without too much effort, it was a perfect fit!

Everyone was still waiting for me when I came out. "Does everything fit alright?" Barlow asked. I nodded. "That's good to hear. It looks good, too! You wear it well!"

Barlow shoved me into the middle of the room. All of the other people from the base stood around me.

"The time has come," Barlow said. "I confer this to you, in recognition of your status as an official Ranger… Your capture styler!"

Barlow walked up to me and handed me a red styler. I stared at it, then did my Ranger Pose . "That officially makes you a certified Ranger!" Barlow exclaimed. "How does it feel to hold that?"

"Natural…" I whispered. "It's like it was built for me…"

"I know you don't really need any introductions," Barlow said. "But as leader, I'd like to uphold tradition. People, today we welcome Sparkette as the latest member of our Ranger Base. Maybe it was fated to happen after her one day internship." Then why wasn't Keith here as well? Barlow turned to me. "I'm Barlow. I'm the leader here. I'm glad to have you on board. The smiley guy in the middle is Crawford. He's our resident jokester. He's the tallest person in Vientown. And his hair is that explosion of an afro." Crawford took a step forward.

"Next to Crawford on the left is Luana," Barlow continued. This was really pointless, I already knew everyone! "She's a bit scatterbrained. Just this morning she incinerated toast. She has brilliantly white teeth, though." I don't know if I needed to know that. Luana step forward to stand next to Crawford.

"Elaine, our mechanic, would choose tinkering with machines over romance," Barlow said. Somehow that doesn't surprise me at all. "The problem is, she likes taking things apart more than assembling them." Elaine stepped forward as well. Barlow turned to the operator.

"Last, but not least, behind the counter is our always smiling Operator, Charlene!" Barlow finished. "She's won the styler recharging contest three years in a row. And that, kid, is our entire team!"

"It's nice to meet everyone!" I said, playing along with their tradition.

"I hate to say this…" Barlow said. "But things are getting pretty strange around Vientown. It's so bad, the place can't live up to the billing, 'For relaxation, this is your town!' Remember that Pokemon trouble we had at the beach?" I nodded. How could I forget? It was only a week ago! "Since then, things have started slowly turning strange. Whether Vientown returns to being a relaxing place or not depends on us. It's our job as Rangers to put things right. Sparkette, I'm expecting big things from you!" I smiled back at Barlow. He turned to everyone else. "That goes for all of you, too!" he said. "I'm counting on you all. Let's not waste anytime, Sparkette. I want you to go with Crawford to deliver the Vien Tribune."

"What's the Vien Tribune?" I asked.

"It's the local newspaper," Barlow replied. "I'd like you to go with Crawford as he delivers it to every house in Vientown and Chicole Village."

I nodded. "Will do!"

"Let's go, Sparkette!" Crawford said, rushing out the door. I followed him out. "I wrote about you in this issue of the Vien Tribune, actually," Crawford said as I walked out the door. We rushed through the town going house to house. All of the people commented on the newspaper, one said how he liked it more than the Almia Times. Another talked about the section Crawford had written about me, and one talked about a section called Crawford's best jokes. One of the houses was Little Tim's. He was the milkman. It was good to see him again!

The final house in Vientown was a cabin near the path to the beach. When we went in, the house was completely empty.

"Crawford, whose house is this?" I asked.

"This is Mr. Woodward's house," Crawford replied. "He's the man who we met on the beach on your internship. He might be out there now. He likes taking walks at this time of day."

"Let's go check!" I said. We rushed out of the house and ran down to the beach.

The first thing we came to on the beach was not Mr. Woodward, it was Pachirisu. The very same Pachirisu I had captured a few weeks ago. It ran up to me, and jumped into my arms.

"Hi there!" I said, petting it's head. "Did you miss me?"

Mr. Woodward walked up to us. "Hmm?" he said. "Are you perhaps that student form before?"

I nodded. "I graduated yesterday," I replied.

"Congratulations!" Mr. Woodward said. "It seems that Pachirisu has been waiting for you to become a Ranger. I've seen her loitering around the beach quite often now."

"There's an old saying that says if you meet someone on this beach you become good friends," Crawford said. "I'm thinking there's something too that. Sparkette, since you're a Pokemon Ranger now you can have a Partner Pokemon. You're free to make that Pachirisu your official Partner Pokemon!"

I looked at the Pachirisu in my arms. "What do you say?" I asked. "Do you want to come with me?"

She nodded happily, and leapt back onto the ground.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Crawford said. "Here's your Vien Tribune, Mr. Woodward!" He handed a newspaper to Mr. Woodward.

"Ah, the newest edition?" he said. "The large text makes it easy for my old eyes to read. I thank you for that."

"Let's keep moving, Crawford," I said. "We still have to go to Chicole Village. Come on, Pachirisu!"

Crawford and I rushed through Vientown again, this time followed by Pachirisu. We ran down the short path that lead to Chicole Village. Once again we visited all of the houses. It was the first time I had met the other people in my town, it was nice!

My house was the last one we came to. I handed the newspaper to my dad.

"Oh, what's this?" he said. "The Vien Tribune?"

"Yep!" I replied. "Crawford and I have been delivering this door-to-door to everyone in Chicole Village and Vientown."

"That's nice," Dad said. "You were probably given this job to get acquainted with the local people."

"Big Sis, why are you delivering the Vien Tribune?" Lily asked. "When you look so cool in your new uniform…"

"Well, it is a nice uniform!" Mom said. "The material seems to be good quality! Crawford… my Sparkette is still a child. Please keep an eye on her!"

"Mom!" I protested.

Crawford simply laughed. "We'd better go report back to Barlow," he said. "It was nice to meet you all!"

"Bye!" I said. We rushed out of my house and headed back to Vientown. When we got there, a man in a suit was standing there questioning Barlow.

"Final question, Ranger Leader Barlow," The man said. "If you were to describe the Ranger's job in one word, what would it be?"

"Hmm, that's a tough one," Barlow replied. Suddenly he noticed Crawford and I were back. "Oh, look who's back!" he said. "That was your first official mission, wasn't it? That's a Mission Clear for you!" I smiled, then did my Ranger Pose. My first official mission. Wow…

"Oh, what's that I see?" Barlow said. "That Pachirisu behind you… what's the story?"

"The story?" I said. "You already know it. This is the same Pachirisu from my one day internship. It's my Partner Pokemon now!"

"Oh, I remember now!" Barlow said. "Sounds like an ideal pair to me. Be good to each other!"

Pachirisu jumped for joy. "Hey Sparkette, you can call it a day now if you want," Barlow said.

"Okay," I replied. "I'll see everyone tomorrow!"

* * *

**So Sparkette has finally achieved her dream of becoming a Ranger! It's a shame Keith isn't here to celebrate with her... but fear not! We haven't seen the last of Keith and Rhythmi! **


	8. What's that sound?

**And it's Sparkette's second day of being a Ranger! Explore the Marine Cave with Crawford! This was actually supposed to be one longer chapter, along with the part before it. But I think it makes more sense this way. **

**Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"Good morning, Sparkette!" Barlow said as I walked out of the bedrooms. "Did you sleep well? The beds here are pretty comfortable, aren't they?"

I nodded, smiling. "Okay, people," Barlow said. "Let's get to work. We've received a disturbing report from Mr. Woodward. He claims there are strange noises coming from the marine cave on Nabiki Beach."

Everyone turned to him in shock. "We believe this incident might have a connection to what happened on the beach a few weeks ago. Crawford, go investigate the cave, and take Sparkette with you."

Crawford nodded, and we headed out of the base together. "Crawford, how do we get to the Marine Cave?" I asked.

"It's just off of Nabiki Beach," Crawford replied, as we ran toward the beach. "Just follow me. In this season the tide should be low enough to walk there."

"Does stuff like this happen often?" I said.

Crawford shook his head. "This is the first mission to be worthy of the title in a while, actually. You should consider yourself lucky." Then why was I getting this mission? If it was so unusual shouldn't a more experienced Ranger take care of it?

I followed Crawford across the beach where we found an opening in the wall. "Here it is, Sparkette!" Crawford exclaimed. I nodded, and we stepped inside the cave.

"Crawford, do you hear that?" I asked. "A strange pulsing noise?"

"I think it's coming from deeper inside the cave," Crawford replied. "If it's only about finding what's causing those noises, then this mission will be easy. But Sparkette… look over there!"

I followed his gaze to see a Shellos and a Zubat walking around in circles. "Something is definitely wrong with those Pokemon!" I exclaimed. "Could the pulsing sound be causing that?"

Suddenly a Zubat attacked Crawford. He captured it without a problem, but it ran away as soon as it was caught.

"That weird…" I said. "Did you release that Zubat?"

Crawford shook his head. "It just couldn't be befriended…" Huh. "But it looks like the Pokemon we brought in aren't affected," Crawford continued. "So if we need any Pokemon we should bring them from somewhere else."

I nodded. We then continued through the cave, with Crawford trying to keep us smiling by telling jokes. Really bad jokes, but still. It was the thought that counted.

"I can hear it clearly now!" Crawford exclaimed. "We must be getting close! If you start to feel panicky, just talk to me, okay? Actually, keep me from panicking." Really? Was Crawford scared?

I sighed, and we continued through the cave. "So what do you think could be causing this?" I asked.

"I don't know," Crawford replied. "But whatever it is, it's the most exciting thing that's happened here in a while."

A little bit deeper in the cave, we found four Pokemon running around in a giant circle. Next to them a red… thing was sitting there. "What is that thing?" I asked.

Crawford shrugged. "I've never seen anything like it. It must be what's causing the pulsing."

"Those Pokemon are in pain…" I said, staring at the four circling Pokemon. "We need to stop that machine!"

"Maybe a Pokemon can break it!" Crawford exclaimed. "Sparkette, try pointing your styler at it. If it can be broken by a Pokemon, the little screen on the styler will tell you what kind of field move you need to use."

"Okay," I said, pulling out my styler. I pointed it in the direction of the strange machine. The styler didn't know what it was either but it did know how to break it. "It says to use a soak attack," I said. "So we should try to find a water Pokemon."

Crawford nodded. "Let's check deeper in the cave," he said. We walked past the circling Pokemon and through another opening.

"I can't hear the pulsing anymore!" I said. "Maybe the effects of the machine can't reach the Pokemon here."

"That means we should be able to find a good water type here!" Crawford exclaimed.

"What do you think is behind this rock?" I asked, gesturing to a giant rock that was blocking a hole.

"I think I can hear a Gastrodon behind it," Crawford replied. "That's the evolved form of Shellos."

"It must've gotten trapped back there…" I said. "Poor guy, do you think we can break the rock?"

Crawford nodded, and pointed his styler at the rock. "We need a Pokemon with the smash ability," he said. "Maybe a Nosepass would work."

"I saw one in the back of the cave!" I exclaimed. "Let's go!"

We ran through the cave, and in the very back there was a Nosepass. I captured it pretty easily, then lead it back over to the rock.

"Nosepass, can you break this for me?" I asked. Nosepass nodded, and hit the rock with an attack. It shattered into rubble. "Thank you!" I said, as the Nosepass ran away.

We entered the next section of the cave where we found a Gastrodon sitting in the middle of the chamber. I caught it without too much effort, although Pachirisu did have to help me a little bit on this one, and we headed back to the machine.

"Gastrodon, can you use your water gun to destroy this machine?" I asked. Gastrodon nodded, and shot a burst of water at the strange machine. The top blew off, and the strange pulsing noise went away. "Thanks Gastrodon!" I shouted as it ran out of the cave.

The Pokemon that had been running around in a circle stopped, and ran off somewhere. "So this machine was the cause…" Crawford said. "At least the Pokemon seemed happy to regain their senses. Sparkette, it's your smart decisions that saved the Pokemon. Good job!"

"Thanks," I replied. "What should we do with this machine? We can't just leave it here."

"We have to take it back to the Ranger Base," Crawford said. He tried to pick it up off the ground. He could barely move it. "Sparkette, can you give me a hand?"

I nodded, and walked over to the machine. "Okay… one… two… three!" Crawford exclaimed. We pulled as hard as we could, but even with our combined abilities we couldn't budge it.

"What should we do now?" I asked. "Even with both of us we can't move it."

"Don't worry about it," Crawford said. "I'll get in touch with Almia's strongest person by voicemail to help move this. He even beat out Barlow in an arm wrestling match in three seconds!"

"Wow…" I said. "Is that even possible?"

Crawford laughed. "Apparently," he replied. "Sparkette, you go back ahead to the base. I'll wait here for Almia's strongest to show up."

"Okay," I said. "See you later!"

I ran out off the cave as fast as I could, eager to get back before another weird thing happened. Of course, I had no such luck. On the beach I ran into Big Bertha, Little Tim's wife.

"Oh, are you on your way home?" She asked.

I nodded. "Crawford and I just finished a mission in the Marine Cave," I replied. "Where are you heading?"

"You were with Crawford?" Big Bertha said. I nodded. "Then you should know that he called me to the cave."

"Crawford called...you?" I said. "You're… what?"

"I haven't got the faintest idea why Crawford would need me," Big Bertha said, completely ignoring me. "But my silly husband got all jealous saying I'm going on a date with Crawford in the Cave. So I told him, that's exactly what I'm doing!" She burst out laughing, and I laughed feebly along with her, honestly a little bit scared of her now.

"Well, I should get back to the Ranger Base," I said. "Have fun with Crawford!"

Without another word, I ran all the way back to the Ranger Base. "Hi, Sparkette," Barlow said when I entered the base. "What do you have to report?"

"We found a strange machine in the cave, which was emitting a pulsing sound," I replied. "This sound was causing the Pokemon in the cave to behave strangely. The Pokemon who could hear the sound couldn't be befriended. The machine was easily destroyed by a field move, however."

"That's excellent work, rookie!" Barlow said. "That's Mission Clear!" I smiled and did my Ranger Pose.

"Sparkette, you should have a look at this," Elaine said. I turned to her. "Seems like one of your classmates is making a name for himself."

She pulled a newspaper out of her pocket and handed it to me. It was a special Fiore edition of the Almia Times. Wait, Fiore? That's where Keith was! I took the newspaper hastily, and stared at it. The headline was, "Keith, the new hero!" It had a picture of Keith battling a Gyarados. It also had an image of Keith with a Buizel in front of the Summerland Ranger Base. I smiled.

"Elaine, do you mind if I keep this?" I asked.

"Not at all," She replied. I folded up the paper and put it into my pocket, promising myself to read it later.

Suddenly the door to the Ranger Base burst open. Crawford entered, followed by Big Bertha. Big Bertha had the strange machine from the cave slung over one shoulder. Wait, slung over one shoulder? HOW?

"Hi, guys!" Crawford said, cheerfully.

Big Bertha set the machine down in the center of the room. "This is the strange machine that was making the pulsing noises," Crawford explained. "Pokemon near it seemed to be suffering, it was as though they were under hypnosis."

"Let me take this apart for analysis!" Elaine exclaimed. That sounded like fun, could I help?

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Barlow replied. "Not so fast. We'll have Professor Hastings from the Ranger Union examine it first. Unfortunately, the professor is off on business in the Fiore region. We'll have to wait for him to get back."

"But I want to dismantle it…" Elaine complained.

"Look, Elaine," Barlow said. "Professor Hastings will come running as soon as he's back from his business trip. I know how you feel, but I need you to wait a while."

Elaine sighed. "Okay…"

"Barlow, I think I'm going to turn in early," I said.

"That's fine," Barlow replied. "Good work today! See you tomorrow!"

* * *

**Awww Sparkette kept the newspaper! She misses Keith! So cute!**

**Next update will be soon!**


	9. Fire!

***cough cough* Ughhhh I hate being sick! This is the third day of being sick for me! **

**So I decided I'm going to start another story! I haven't decided which one yet, but I will have another thing posted by the end of the day, so keep your eyes open!**

**Make sure to read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"Barlow, what's that smell?" I asked as Pachirisu I stepped out of the bedroom.

"The Vien Forest is on fire," Barlow replied, running over to me. "I just received word from Crawford, who was out on a stroll. Sparkette, where's Luana?" I opened my mouth to speak, but soon Luana walked out of the changing rooms.

"Hi, guys…" Luana said, yawning. "Did somebody burn some toast or something? That smoky smell woke me up."

"Luana, if you were asleep, who would burn toast?" I joked.

Luana laughed. "True."

"Girls! This is no time to joke around!" Barlow exclaimed. "There's a fire in the Vien Forest! You two are to meet up with Crawford in the forest! Put out the fire, Rangers!"

"Fire?" Luana repeated, her eyes snapping open. "We'll go to the forest right away!"

Luana and I rushed out of the base. "Hey Luana?" I said. "Where is the Vien Forest anyway?"

"Oh, you've never been?" Luana said. "I guess that makes sense… just follow this path here and we should be there in no time!"

I nodded and followed Luana out of the town, down a path that lead to the north. Pretty much as soon as we stepped out of the town we were in a forest. There was a lot of smoke around, but I didn't see a fire. "I guess the fire is burning further in," Luana said.

"How big is this forest?" I asked.

Luana opened her mouth to reply, but stopped when we found a little girl standing by a giant tree. "Mimi!" Luana cried, running up to the girl. Mimi? I'd never heard that name before.

"Mimi, the forest is on fire!" Luana said to the girl. "You have to go home now!"

"... Mimi can't go home," Mimi said. "Mimi's Happiny all ran away! Three out of four are gone! They suddenly stopped listening to Mimi and ran away somewhere."

"Well then we'll go find them for you!" I said. "So don't worry about anything."

"Really? You would do that for me?" Mimi said, her eyes sparkling.

"Trust us!" Luana said. "We're Rangers!"

"Wait for us here, Mimi," I said. "We'll be back soon!"

Mimi nodded, and Luana and I ran deeper into the forest. Luana and I decided that it would be best to split up to find the Happiny faster. Luana went off toward a clearing, and I headed down a path closer to the entrance. There were two Happiny down the path I took, and Luana had one with her when we met up again.

"Let's get back to Mimi!" Luana exclaimed.

We hurried down the path where we found Mimi standing exactly where we left her. As soon as the Happiny saw her, they ran to her. It was actually really adorable.

"Thank you, Rangers!" Mimi said, smiling.

"It was no problem," I replied. "Now you go home before the fire get's worse, okay?"

Mimi nodded. "Okay! Thank you again!"

Mimi walked out of the forest, followed by her Happiny.

"Okay!" I said. "How do we get through this forest, Luana?"

"Just follow me!" Luana said. "I've lived here my entire life, I know this forest like the back of my hand!"

I nodded and followed Luana across a small bridge, deeper into the forest. The flames got stronger as the trees got thicker. Luana coughed. "My face feels hot… the flames just keep getting deeper!"

"Luana, look at that!" I said, also coughing now. "That red thing over there! Isn't that the same thing Crawford and I found in the cave?"

Luana followed my gaze to see the red machine lying broken in a clearing. "I think it is!" Luana replied. "But we can't get past the flames! We'll have to go around!"

"Okay!" I said. "Lead the way!"

Luana and I ran back toward the entrance of the forest. We followed the path past the river, to the other side of the forest. Luana lead me deeper through the forest once again and the flames got stronger as we went.

"Hey, guys!" Crawford called as we crossed another bridge. "Is it warm enough for you?" Luana and I glared at him. Crawford laughed. "Sorry, this is no time to be joking! Boy, am I glad to see you two! I've been leading pokemon to safety, but I can't keep up! We need to stop this fire! This situation calls for the Area Move Rain Dance, which Blastoise have."

"Okay, so why haven't you caught one yet?" I said.

"I hate to admit it, but my Styler is malfunctioning from the crazy heat," Crawford replied. "That's why I need one of you to capture a Blastoise."

"Sparkette, you go!" Luana said. "I'll stay here and help Crawford." I nodded, and started to run off, but I soon stopped.

"Umm… do you know where I can find a Blastoise?" I asked.

Crawford laughed, and pointed to a path on his right. "I saw one by the water down this path," He replied. I nodded again, and ran down the path.

The fire wasn't as strong down this path. As I walked down the path the smoke started to clear, and I soon reached the stream that Blastoise was next to. I caught him pretty easily, then returned to where Crawford and Luana were waiting for me.

"Awesome!" Crawford said. "You brought a Blastoise! It looks like it's feeling motivated, too!"

"So where should I use the Area Move?" I asked.

"You have to figure that out for yourself," Luana replied. "But don't worry. You'll know it when you see it."

"Okay," I said. "I'll look around."

I wandered around the clearing for a while. Nothing. There was no good place to use the Area Move. It wouldn't cover the entire forest. Eventually, I found the perfect spot, in the middle of a path connecting two clearings.

"Okay, Blastoise!" I said. "Use Rain Dance!"

Blastoise growled, and storm clouds gathered above the forest. Soon, rain was tumbling down from the sky, dousing the fire. I really wish I brought my umbrella, Crawford, Luana, and I got completely soaked. So did all of the Pokemon in the forest. It also didn't help that Pachirisu shook herself dry, and all of the water landed on me.

I laughed. "Now that is how you put out a fire!" I said as Crawford and Luana ran up to me.

"Yep!" Crawford said. "We got soaked for glory! It's a Mission Clear!"

The three of us smiled and did our Ranger Poses. "But what caused the fire?" I asked.

"And why are there so many of those strange machines just lying around?" Luana continued.

Crawford stared at the ground, lost in thought. "Nope. I can't," he said, shaking his head. "I'm too burnt out to think. Let's go back to the Ranger Base."

Luana and I nodded, then continued down the path. We wound up in the same place where Luana and I found the first machine broken. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, and I suddenly bumped into something.

Or, more like someone. I had bumped into a man with maroon hair and a blue striped shirt. He seemed to be about Crawford's age, like eighteen or something.

"Sorry!" I said. The man I ran into cried out, and ran back toward the clearing where the machine was. Something was not right here. "Hey! Wait!" I called, running after the man. Crawford and Luana followed me. We cornered the man by the machine. The man panicked, desperate to find an escape route. Crawford stared at him.

"Oh, no!" Crawford exclaimed, turning to Luana and I. "This guy's got burn marks! We need to get him back to the Ranger Base for treatment! He might know something about these burnt out machines."

I walked up to the man. "Hey, come with us," I said, kindly. "We can help you back at the Ranger Base." The man stared at me, scared. "Don't worry, we won't hurt you."

The man finally nodded, and followed Crawford, Luana and I back to the Ranger Base. Or, at least that's how I wanted it to happen. Crawford and Luana went on either side of the man and escorted him back to the base. I sighed and followed them. Pachirisu and I were the last ones in the base. Crawford had already brought the man over to Barlow.

"Good work, everyone!" Barlow said when I entered the base. "But what's up with this guy? He reeks of oil, and wouldn't stop struggling even when Elaine was nice enough to tend to his burns. I think he's hiding something"

"I say we tie him up a smidgen on the tight side!" Crawford said. "Maybe that will get him to talk!" Barlow nodded, and he pulled a rope out of nowhere and tied it around the man. Poor guy… I told him we wouldn't hurt him! I wish I could do something to stop Barlow, but he was my leader! I couldn't say anything about his decisions.

When the man was fully tied up, Crawford pushed him in between Barlow and I.

"Hey, oil-reeking guy!" Barlow exclaimed. "How about telling us your name, at least? Otherwise, you're always going to be know as the 'oil-reeking guy." The man didn't reply, he simply stared at the ground. "Oh, I see how it is!" Barlow said after a while. "You want someone to think of a nickname for you." Barlow jumps to the weirdest conclusions! That came out of nowhere!

"I'll do the honors!" Barlow continued. "You stink like oil for some reason, so how about 'Oil-Stinker-creep!' You like it, right?"

The man didn't say anything. I facepalmed. Did Barlow really just suggest that? How did he come up with those thing?

Crawford stepped forwards, laughing. "Barlow, you have no sense of humor!" he said. "Your nickname had no spark to it at all! And it was too long!"

"Oh yeah?" Barlow retaliated. "Do you have a better idea."

Crawford didn't reply. I stepped forward to stand next to the man. "How about Ollie?" I suggested. The man flashed a smile.

"Did you see that?" Luana said, also smiling. "He likes it! Then it's decided! We'll call him Ollie."

"So Ollie," I said. "Are you keeping something from us?" Ollie still didn't reply.

"You're going to play stubborn with us, huh?" Barlow said. "He'll feel like talking when he's hungry. Leave him tied up!" What? We don't know if Ollie did anything, we can't do this! I opened my mouth to protest, but Barlow interrupted me. "Sparkette, don't even try to complain. It won't help."

I sighed. Why were we doing this to Ollie? It wasn't fair! Crawford pulled Ollie back to the corner of the room. "Sparkette, it's going to be hectic for a while," Barlow said. "You should get some rest."

"Okay," I said. After taking one more glance at Ollie, I headed into the bedroom.

* * *

**I always hated how they treated Ollie in the begining of the game. Seriously, he's hurt, and you just tie him up? What the heck, Barlow? **

**Next update shall be soon!**


	10. Trouble in Pueltown

**So I'm finally back in school after being sick for three days! That's why the update is a little bit later than usual. **

**I don't own Pokemon... :(**

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"Good morning, Sparkette!" Barlow said cheerfully as I stepped out of the changing room. I scanned the room looking for Ollie. He was standing next to Elaine, still tied up. Had anyone given him food? Crawford was questioning him about something. Luana was probably still asleep.

"We just got a report from the Ranger Union!" Barlow continued. "Professor Hastings has returned from his trip to the Fiore Region, and he's on his way here! He's coming to examine the strange machine. I want you to go to the Vien Forest and make sure the Professor isn't lost."

He went to the Fiore Region? Maybe he'd seen Keith! I nodded and rushed out of the Ranger Base, hugging my Pachirisu.

I didn't even need to go into the forest to find Professor Hastings. He was walking down the path from the forest when I went to go find him. I ran up to him.

"Hi, Professor Hastings!" I said.

"Hmm?" he said. "Who might you be?"

"Don't you remember me?" I asked. "I'm Sparkette. You met me on my one-day internship!" Professor Hastings stared at me for a while.

"Ah, yes. I remember you!" Professor Hastings said. "So you've graduated from the Ranger School and you've made it as a Ranger. Congratulations!"

"Thank you!" I said. "Barlow sent me to get you."

"Great!" Professor Hastings replied. "Let's jog to the Ranger Base!"

I nodded, and started to jog down the path to the Ranger Base. "So, how was your trip?" I asked politely.

"It was fine," Professor Hastings replied. "But now that I'm here I would love to see the strange machine you have in the Ranger Base."

"What were the Rangers in Fiore like?" I asked.

"They were fine!" Professor Hastings said impatiently. "Now let's get going!"

I sighed, then ran the rest of the way to the Ranger Base. I guess the Professor wasn't a good source of information on my friends.

When we entered the Ranger Base everyone was gathered around the strange machine. Luana was finally awake, as well. Professor Hastings rushed over to the machine.

"Hmm…" Professor Hastings said. "I've seen something like this before…" He stared at the machine. "I've got it!" He cried suddenly. "I saw some on the way here in Pueltown! Some men were carrying some machines like this! I remember them struggling with one, presumably because of it's heavy weight. I presumed they were mailboxes, but it seems I was mistaken."

"We should send someone to Pueltown right away!" I said. Barlow nodded.

"Great idea, Sparkette!" he said. "How about you and Luana head over there now?"

"Okay!" Luana said. "Let's go, Sparkette!"

I nodded, and we ran out of the Ranger Base. "So how do we get to Pueltown, anyway?" I asked as we ran toward the forest.

"There's a path through the forest," Luana replied. "I'll lead the way."

We ran through the forest, which was still damaged from the fire yesterday, but at least all of the pokemon were okay.

"Hey Sparkette, check this out!" Luana said. She pulled me over to the side of a cliff. "Isn't the view fabulous?"

I stared over the horizon. The view truly was spectacular. You could see the sparkling ocean, and a park. "Wow…" I breathed. "It's amazing! What is this place?"

"This place is called Lookout Ridge," Luana replied. "I like shouting from here." She turned to face the ocean.

"TALK, OLLIE!" She shouted, nearly killing my ears. She sighed. "That felt good."

"Yeah, maybe to you," I said, rubbing my ears. "Please warn me next time."

Luana laughed feebly. "Sorry. Hey, do you see that construction site over there?"

I looked over the horizon. "Are you talking about that tiny purple thing?" I asked.

Luana nodded. "They're putting up a tower there. It's supposed to be the symbol of peace in Almia."

"What's the tower going to be called?" I asked.

"There's actually a contest for naming it," Luana said. "How does Echo Tower sound?"

"Cool!" I replied. "We should probably keep moving now." Luana nodded, and we started to walk down the path.

"So are we almost in Pueltown?" I asked.

"We should be there soon," Luana replied. "It's not too far from Vientown."

We continued down the path in silence. I caught a Bibarel on the way, just in case we needed to destroy a machine.

"We're here!" Luana cried out as we stepped into a town. "Welcome to Pueltown, Sparkette!"

"Hey, do you hear that?" I asked.

Luana closed her eyes and listened. "Yes…" She said slowly. "Is that the same sound you heard in Marine Cave?" I nodded. "Then we'd better hurry! The Pokemon here could be suffering!"

I nodded, and we ran deeper into the town. The pulsing sound got louder as we went along. Soon, we stopped in front of a Ranger Depot. The pulsing sound was as loud as it was in the Marine Cave.

A man with pink hair was waiting for us outside the depot. "Hey, Rangers!" he said, tapping his foot impatiently. "Just the people I wanted to see! My name is Brook! I'm in charge of the drawbridge north of Pueltown, but that's beside the point. The point I'm trying to make is: what's become of the Pokemon around here?"

"That's what we're here to find out," I replied. "I'm Sparkette, and this is Luana."

"Hi!" Luana said. "So, Brook, have you seen anything unusual recently?"

"Well…" Brook replied. He leaned in closer to Luana and I. "Just between us, I saw some shady characters placing these giant… I don't know, mailboxes or something, around the town."

"The strange machines!" I exclaimed. "Is that when the Pokemon started going crazy?"

Brook nodded.

"There's something crooked going on here!" Luana said. "We have to do something before it's too late!"

There was a strange machine right next to the Ranger Depot. I destroyed it using the Bibarel I caught earlier, but the pulsing sound didn't go away. Was there another one around here somewhere?

"Luana, I'm going to go catch the Bibarel again," I said. "Can you try to find the other machine?"

Luana nodded, and I ran back toward the forest. I caught the Bibarel without a problem, and rushed back into Pueltown.

"Sparkette!" Luana called. "There's another one back here!"

I followed the sound of her voice to the back of the street by some staircases that were blocked of by some hypnotized Pokemon. Luana was standing next to another machine. I destroyed this machine as well, and the pulsing died down, and the Pokemon that were guarding the staircase next to us ran away. However, we could still hear a faint pulsing sound.

Luana and I ran up the staircase, which lead to another section of the town. The pulsing was louder again here. We looked around until we found another machine. But something was weird about this one.

"Luana, look at the color of the machine!" I said.

"It's green!" Luana replied. "Does that mean it's a different type?" She pointed her styler at it. "Sparkette, what do you need to destroy a red machine?"

"Um… water," I replied.

"Well, this green machine needs fire," Luana said. "I'm going to look for a fire type. Do you want to come with me?"

I shook my head. "I'm going to look around here some more. Maybe there's another machine somewhere."

Luana nodded and ran back down the stairs. I wandered around a little bit, and found another green machine. "Hey, Sparkette!" Luana cried running up to me. She had a Growlithe following her. "Did you find another machine? I destroyed the first one."

I nodded. "It's right over here in this patch of grass." Luana rushed up to the machine and destroyed it with her Growlithe. As soon as the machine had been destroyed the Growlithe ran away.

The pulsing sound went away completely. "Is that all of the machines in town?" I asked.

"I don't know," Luana replied. "We should check the harbor before we move on. Oh, and the residential area."

Suddenly, two men walked up to us. "We lost signals from Gigaremo units, and we find two Rangers." One of them said. Luana and I turned to them in shock.

"Oh, they've done it now!" The other man said. "They're busting up our Gigaremo units! We'd better tell our leader!" The men exchanged glances, and ran off somewhere.

"Gigaremo?" I said. "I'm positive I heard them say Gigaremo."

"Is that what that strange machine is called?" Luana asked.

"Let's follow those sneaky people!" I said. Luana nodded, and we followed the people down a long bridge that ran above the Ranger Depot. When we stepped of it, we could hear the pulsing sound clearly again. More machines?

Suddenly, we heard a little girl shriek. That voice… it sounded familiar. We turned our gaze to where we heard the shriek to see four pokemon surrounding a little girl with blond hair. Brook was standing in front of her. I stared at the girl. Was that…

"Melody?" I said, running up to the pokemon. The girl turned to me, and smiled.

"Big brother's friend!" She exclaimed.

"Rangers!" Brook said. "Don't worry, I'll save Melody!" He started jumping at the pokemon surrounding Melody. After a few tries, he took a few steps back, then charged at the Pokemon shouting, "SUPER BROOK JUMP!" And jumped over the Pokemon surrounding Melody. He landed right next to her.

"Mr. Brook!" She said, happily.

"Melody, you're not hurt, are you?" He asked. "There's nothing to worry about now! Why did these pokemon suddenly attack you, anyway?" Brook looked around him. "So! Erm… I dove in the middle of this, but… now what?"

"Oh no. Melody, don't worry!" I said. "I'll get you out of there!"

"Please, hurry!" Melody said.

"Sparkette, do you know this girl?" Luana asked as we rushed to capture a Growlithe.

I nodded. "She's my… classmate Isaac's little sister. Keith and I met her on our way to Vientown when we came for our one-day internship." I may not have liked Isaac that much, but his little sister was adorable! I couldn't let her get hurt!

"We have to help them!" Luana said, as I caught the Growlithe. "Let's hurry!"

We ran back to where Melody and Brook were, and destroyed the Gigaremo next to them. The pulsing sound died down as Growlithe ran away. The Pokemon circling Melody and Brook also ran back to wherever they came from.

"Melody, are you okay?" I asked, kneeling down in front of her. She nodded. I sighed, relieved. "That's good to hear. Be more careful, okay?" Melody smiled, and nodded again.

"Melody, we should go home," Brook said.

"Okay!" Melody said. "By the way Big Brother's friend, I saw some shady people walking toward the harbor."

"Really? Thank you, Melody!" I said.

"Bye now!" Melody said as she ran off with Brook. "See you later!"

"Sparkette, let's go after them!" Luana exclaimed. I nodded, and Luana lead be toward the harbor. The pulsing got louder once again as we neared the water. Really? Another… Gigaremo? Is that what he said they were called?

Anyway, Luana and I hid behind a yellow crate near a few shady people surrounding a yellow Gigaremo. One of the guys didn't have a hat, and he had a Toxicroak behind him.

"Leader!" The guy closest to us said. "Some no-good Rangers are going around wrecking the Gigaremo units!"

"It's because we took so long installing them!" The person next to the first said. "It's not our fault they're so heavy!"

"But we still managed to gather some information from this," The next guy said.

"Yeah, we should ditch this backwater place without getting into useless trouble," The final guy wearing a hat said.

Luana turned to me. "What experiment were they talking about?" She asked. "What do you think we should do?"

"Well, we can't just do nothing!" I said. Before Luana could protest, I marched up to the guys surrounding the Gigaremo. "Excuse me," I said, in a curious tone. "Would you mind explaining what those machines are? And what is this experiment you mentioned?" Everyone, including Luana, stared at me in shock.

"You vandals!" One of the hat guys said. "What do you have against Gigaremo? Treat things with respect!"

"What are Gigaremo?" I asked. "I thought they were just mailboxes!"

The shady guys all glared at me. "Mailboxes?" One of them shouted. "These are not mailboxes! These are…"

One of the other guys put his hand over the first guy's mouth. "Don't give all of our secrets to the enemy!"

I looked up at the guy with sad eyes. "Awwwww you don't trust me?" I said. "Can you at least tell me who you are?"

The guy sighed and moved his hand. "We are Team Dim Sun!" he said. "We're a criminal syndicate with dreams of world domination!"

"And you also wanted to know about our experiment?" Another guy said. "We came here to Pueltown to see if Gigaremo units will let us control Pokemon like puppets!"

I smiled. Fools. The guy who wasn't wearing a hat stepped forwards. He seemed to be the leader of this group. Was he an Admin or something?

"Whoa!" He shouted. "Why'd you tell them anything!?"

"Oh no!" One of the minions said. "I'm sorry! The brown haired one took advantage of my kindness!"

"She used her Ranger powers to make us talk!" another said.

"Did I?" I said. Luana giggled. "I'm sorry! I didn't try to! I was just curious!"

The minion smiled at me, then shook his head. "Don't worry, leader!" he said. "I'll make her forget what she heard with a little unfriendly persuasion! Team Rattata, attack!"

That didn't sound good. Maybe I went a little bit too far… Suddenly, four Rattata were on top of me. I pulled out my styler as quickly as possible, and caught the Rattata.

The minion laughed. "Huh. So I underestimated you," he said. "But this time it's for real! Go, Toxicroak!"

The Toxicroak that was standing next to the Gigaremo jumped at me. I pulled out my styler again. The Toxicroak had a very annoying habit of jumping everywhere, and running into my styler. He was actually really annoying to capture. I had to use Pachirisu to make him stay still. After I did that he was actually a lot easier to catch, and soon a golden light engulfed the Toxicroak. As I lowered my styler Toxicroak ran away.

"That's enough!" The admin said. "It's a waste of time to engage her! Sound to retreat! But we have to take the Gigaremo back to the Hideout! It's heavy, but the punishment for failure will be heavier still!"

The four minions surrounded the Gigaremo, lifted it up, and ran toward the dock, followed by the admin.

"Do we go after them?" Luana asked. I nodded, and we ran toward the dock, but the Team Dim Sun people were already gone. I'm assuming they were in the giant ship that was floating away from the dock.

"Darn it!" I said. "They got away…"

Suddenly Brook ran up behind us. "Ah!" He exclaimed. "Who knew they came by sea!? My raising the bridge was a wasted effort! But there's nothing to worry about. I may not look it, but I'm one fine swimmer, if I do say so myself. I'll catch them, then haul them back, boat and all, as my gift for you! Just let me take care of them!"

Brook pulled of his sandals and took a few steps back. "Super Brook Jump!" He cried as he charged toward the water. He then jumped off the dock and started to swim toward the boat.

Luana rushed over to the edge of the dock. "Did Brook just dive into the water with his sandals clenched between his teeth?"

"I think so…" I replied. "I don't know if I should be surprised or worried."

"So I just come back to the harbor to go fishing, and the first thing I see is Brook, sandals in his mouth swimming out to sea," Luana and I turned around in shock. A fisherman was standing behind us. "Does anyone care to tell me what's up?"

"He went chasing after some crooks who fled in a boat," Luana replied. "I'm a little bit worried."

"Oh, I get the picture," The fisherman said. "Let me guess, he said 'Just let me take care of things', right?"

"Pretty much," I replied. "Has this happened before?"

The fisherman noded. "It's nothing new," he said. "Just let him do as he likes. He can swim all right but he can't catch up to any boat. He'll be back soon enough."

Luana and I turned to face the ocean again. In a few moments we saw Brook climbing back onto the harbor. He slipped his sandals back on.

"Brook!" Luana exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but those crooks got away…" Brook replied. "It's impossible to catch up to them!"

"Pueltown's known for this salty sea breeze and Brook here," The fisherman said. "He's kind of a figure."

"We'll, at least he's a safe figure," I said, sighing.

"Hey Sparkette?" Luana said. "I need to admit something. This is the most dangerous Mission I've ever had. And I've been a Ranger for over a year now! You're so lucky!"

"Well, thanks, I think," I said. "We should probably head back to the Ranger Base now. We have a lot to report."

Luana nodded. "Let's fill them in over voicemail while we go back to Vientown." I nodded and we started to walk down the path that lead to home.

* * *

**You know, it's probably a good thing Luana sleeps in late. That gives the other Rangers more time to make breakfast before she explodes the toaster.**

**Next update will be soon!**


	11. More Pueltown antics

"Welcome back, girls!" Barlow said as we walked into the Ranger Base.

"Hi, Barlow!" I said. "We're reporting back for duty!"

Luana didn't say anything, she simply stared at the ground. "Luana, what's wrong?" Barlow asked. "You two did a great job!"

"Like I reported by voicemail, I'm upset those five Team Dim Sun creeps got away," She said. "What's worse is that they also got the one remaining Gigaremo machine…"

"Luana, you're being too hard on yourself!" Barlow exclaimed. "You two did more than enough for a rookie and a second-year Ranger! What concerns me is this Team Dim Sun. What are they about? Anyway, it's Mission Clear!"

Luana and I smiled and did our Ranger Poses. "So what's been going on before we were gone?" I asked.

"Well," Barlow replied. "Professor Hastings and Elaine are examining that Gigamori machine."

"It's Gigaremo," I said.

"Whatever," Barlow continued. "I just need to get the Giga part right. You two have got to be exhausted. Do you want to rest up a bit?"

Luana and I exchanged glances, then nodded. "Good work!" Barlow said. "I'll send Elaine to get you if anything happens."

Luana and I smiled and headed into the bedroom. Luckily nothing did happen, and Luana and I got a full night of sleep.

"Good morning Sparkette!" Barlow said cheerfully as I stepped out of the changing room. "Elaine worked through the night to dismantle the Gigarama."

"Gigaremo," I said.

"Don't sweat the details!" Barlow exclaimed. "You have to look at the big picture! Speaking of big, Big Bertha dropped by with an armload of milk pudding! Eat up!"

"It will give you lots of energy!" Big Bertha said as she handed me a bowl.

"Thank you!" I said. "It smells delicious!" Well, I guess I wasn't having toast for breakfast today! I happily ate the pudding as Big Bertha also walked up to Luana and gave her some milk pudding as well. I also gave some pudding to Pachirisu.

When Luana took the bowl, Big Bertha walked over to Ollie. "That guy refuses to talk," Barlow said. "Just stick a spoon in his mouth. That'll be plenty."

I opened my mouth to complain, but Big Bertha beat me to it. "Now, hush!" She said. "That's no way to treat anyone! He's the hungriest looking of everyone here!" Barlow shrunk back from Big Bertha. Was Barlow actually scared of someone?

"Now, what did you say your name was?" Big Bertha asked.

"We call him Ollie," I said, when Ollie didn't say anything.

"Ollie, huh?" She said. "Eat up now! Here, I'll spoon it for you." Big Bertha started to feed an entire bowl of milk pudding to Ollie. I was surprised Barlow didn't do anything to stop her, since he was the one who had his heart set on starving the poor guy.

Big Bertha stepped away from Ollie as soon as the bowl was empty. "Do you want any more, Ollie?"

Ollie didn't say anything for a long time. Everyone was silent. "I… I don't deserve this…" he said. Everyone stared at him, shocked. He talked! "That fire… the Vien Forest fire… it was all my fault! I'm clumsy, and I spilled Gigaremo's fuel… it splashed all over, and then… A spark plug went, and that lit the fuel, and the fire spread wildly, and… I didn't even know those guys… I just met one long ago. he said I could make some easy money, so I accepted. I didn't know what a Gigaremo was, or who they were, or anything… I'm sorry! It was my fault!" No one knew what to say. "That milk pudding was delicious," Ollie continued as he started to cry.

"Aww…" Big Bertha said. "How is he supposed to wipe his tears when he's all tied up like that?"

"I'll untie his rope!" I said. I was glad Barlow wasn't doing anything to stop this. I ran over to Ollie and tried to undo his rope, but nothing happend. The rope didn't even become slightly looser.

"Sparkette, do you need any help?" Luana asked, also running up to Ollie. Even when working together, Luana and I couldn't untie Ollie's rope. I sighed.

"Elaine, is there anything in your toolbox that can untie this?" I asked. Elaine nodded and walked over to us. She pulled out a pair of shears and cut up the rope.

"And the rope is untied!" Elaine said. "Well, more like destroyed. But it's still off!"

Ollie stared at Elaine, smiling. "Thank you…" he said. Elaine smiled back at him. I think it was the first time I saw her genuinely smile. She looked really pretty when she smiled. She should do it more often.

"Okay, people!" Barlow exclaimed. "It's time to get back to work! Big Bertha, thank you kindly for your always delicious milk pudding! And Ollie… you're free to go. Thank you for coming clean. We know now that you were just being used by a mysterious bunch. And now… that mysterious bunch is starting to make some noise. Their name… Team Dim Sun… Sparkette, I'd like you to go see if anyone needs help. Report back to me when you are done."

I nodded, and started to head out of the Ranger Base with Pachirisu. "Hey Sparkette, check this out!" Luana cried. "The Almia Times has a special article on the Pueltown incident."

She pulled a newspaper out of her pocket and handed it to me. It had pictures of a green Gigaremo, and a broken red one. It also showed images of Luana and I doing our Ranger Poses. Wait, what? We didn't even do our Ranger Poses when we were in Pueltown. The last picture was a blurry shot of the Dim Sun Admin and Toxicroak. Seriously, who took these pictures?

I handed the newspaper back to Luana and ran out of the base. When I stepped outside, I was stopped once again, but this time by Ollie.

"Hey, Sparkette!" He called. "Wait up!"

I turned to see Ollie running out of the Ranger Base. "Hi, Ollie," I said. "What's up? Is there anything you need?"

"My mo… friend lives in Chicole Village," he said. "I'd like to see how she's doing, but I'm really bad at things like this. I'm too embarrassed to go alone… will you come with me?"

"Of course!" I said. "My family lives in Chicole Village, it would be good to see them, too!"

Ollie smiled, relieved that I was going with him. Ollie and I walked down the path to Chicole Village. When we got to Chicole Village, we were stopped by someone calling out to me.

"BIG SISTER!" Lily shouted as she ran up to me.

"Hi, Lily," I said. "What's wrong?"

"Listen, listen it's scary!" She said. "A hat ghost appeared on our Partner Farm!"

"What?" I exclaimed.

"A hat ghost, huh?" Ollie said, slightly amused.

"Sparkette, hurry!" Lily said. She ran off toward my family's farm.

"Um… Ollie, do you mind if…" I started.

"It's fine," Ollie said. "My errand can wait. A hat ghost is pretty important. You're little sister is adorable, by the way."

"Yeah… if that's what you want to call it," I said, as I started to run toward the farm. "Come on!"

Ollie and I ran through the town until we reached Dad's ranch. "Big sister, please help!" Lily cried as I stepped onto the ranch. "It's over there!" She pointed at a hat on the ground. Suddenly is started to wiggle.

"Oh my gosh that hat is moving!" Ollie exclaimed, really hamming it up for Lily. At least, that's what I hoped he was doing. "It's a hat ghost!"

I sighed, and stepped closer to the hat. It jumped away from me, startling me. I walked over to the hat again, and lifted it up from the ground to reveal a Kricketot under it. I quickly pulled out my styler and captured the Kricketot easily. I lead him over to my little sister.

"Aww!" She said. "That Kricketot is so cute!"

"I think he likes you, Lily!" I said as the Kricketot ran around in circles around my sister. She giggled.

"Daddy, can I keep him?" She asked.

"Well, I don't see why not!" Dad replied. "I think you two are perfect for each other."

Lily smiled and picked up the Kricketot. "That's great Lily!" I said, picking up my Pachirisu. "It's like you have a Partner Pokemon of your own now!"

Ollie poked my shoulder, trying to get my attention. "Um… Sparkette?" he said. "Is it okay if you do my errand now?"

"Sure, Ollie!" I said, setting Pachirisu on the ground. "Let's go see your… friend."

Ollie and I walked back into Chicole Village. "So…" I said. "What house does your friend live in?"

Ollie lead me to the house next door to mine. "She lives here," He replied. "Let's go." Ollie and I walked into the quaint little house. A woman was standing in the back of the room. Ollie stepped forwards a little bit.

"...Mom," he said. I knew it wasn't his friend! "I'm sorry I left you alone for so long. I didn't mean to. I, um, how should I say this… I'm just so awkward and clumsy, I just fail at everything I do… Mom, I'm always causing you worry… that's all I've ever been good at… But, um… Please, I'm sorry and… I'm home Mom."

Ollie's mom turned to us, her eyes glistening with tears. "... All I wanted to hear you say was 'I'm home'," She said. "Not how you're sorry or how you've made me worry or any of that. None of it matters to me. Nothing could make me happier than hearing your, 'I'm home'. You look well too… Welcome home, my son. I'm glad you came back."

Ollie walked over to stand next to his mother. "It wasn't my friend, but my mom I wanted to see," he said. "I'm sorry for lying to you. I felt so sheepish about this…"

"Hey, don't worry about it, Ollie," I replied. "I'm glad I could help."

"See you later, Sparkette," Ollie said.

* * *

"Welcome back," Luana said as I walked through the door. "How did your patrol go?"

"Okay, I guess," I replied. "A lot of people have been needing help recently. How many people usually need Rangers help?"

"Usually not this many," Crawford said. "It's like a flood of bad news."

"Hm… what's this?" Professor Hastings said. We turned to him. He was still busy examining the Gigaremo with Elaine. "This tiny black stone. Elaine, do you have any idea?"

"I've never seen anything like it!" Elaine exclaimed. "Should I try pulverising it with a hammer? Or drill holes in it?"

"No, no, anything but that!" Professor Hastings shouted. "I'll take it back with me to the Union and have our research staff examine it. Also, we should have a meeting to discuss the Gigaremo threat. I propose that the meeting be held tomorrow at the Ranger Union!" He turned to face us. "Barlow! Come with me to the Union!"

"Yes, sir!" Barlow said. "Crawford, mind the base while I'm out!" Crawford, Luana and I cleared a path for the professor and Barlow as they walked out of the base.

"Hey, Sparkette," Crawford said. "You've had a long day. Nothing else could possibly happen tonight, so feel free to hit the hay."

"Okay," I said. "Thanks. See you tomorrow, everyone!"

* * *

Luana and Elaine were the only ones in the base when I stepped out of the changing room.

"Hi, Sparkette!" Luana said cheerfully. "Have a look at this!"

Luana walked over to me and handed me a newspaper. It had a picture of a raven-haired man in a red cowboy hat, and a female, green haired Ranger. Even though Rangers don't usually wear hats, the man appeared to be a Ranger as well. "Who are these people?" I asked.

"They're the Top Rangers!" Luana replied. "Aren't they coolest?"

I was about to reply, but my styler started beeping. I looked at the screen. A voicemail? "Voicemail, Voicemail!" Barlow's voice came through my styler. "Barlow here. I know it's early in the morning, but we have a situation on our hands. I need you in Pueltown as soon as you can come."

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can!" I replied, hanging up my styler. "I'll see you guys later!" I called as Pachirisu and I ran out of the Ranger Base.

We ran all the way to Pueltown, or at least tried to. I got stopped by my styler beeping once again on Lookout Ridge. Pachirisu almost ran right past me due to my sudden stop.

"Voicemail, Voicemail!" Professor Hasting's voice called through my styler. "It's me, Hastings!" He continued. I already knew that!

"Hello, Professor!" I replied. "What's up?"

"We need you here now!" Hastings shouted. "Hurry up!" My styler beeped again. The professor had hung up. I sighed, then continued to run down the path to Pueltown. This time, I managed to get to to the town without any other interruptions.

Barlow was waiting for me outside the Ranger Depot. "Good morning, Sparkette!" he said cheerfully.

"Hi Barlow," I said. "What's up?"

"Here's the situation," Barlow replied. "The Norward Bridge is stuck up, meaning no traffic can cross. You know the professor hates flying, so we need to cross the bridge in order to reach the Ranger Union."

"So what can I do to help?" I asked.

"Just come with me," Barlow said. "Professor Hastings will explain at the bridge." I nodded, and Barlow lead me to the only part of Pueltown Luana and I didn't visit, the bridge. Like Barlow told me, it was stuck up and there was no way to cross. There was even a yellow caution bar blocking the bridge so nobody would try to cross it.

Professor Hastings was standing In front of the bar. "Good morning, Professor," I said politely.

"Ah, good morning, Sparkette," Professor Hastings replied. "As you can see, the bridge is stuck up and the operator is nowhere in sight! There's no way to get across!"

"I get that, but I still don't understand what I can do to help," I replied.

"We were wondering if you knew who the bridge operator is," Barlow said.

Did they really need to call me all the way out here for this? Couldn't they have just asked me via voicemail?

"I know him," I replied. "His name is Brook. He has pink hair."

"Well, he's obviously not here, then!" Barlow said. "I think we would be able to notice someone with pink hair."

"Oh, are you looking for Brook?" A woman asked. I nodded. "I saw him by the harbor earlier. He might still be there."

"Thank you for the advice!" Barlow said. "Sparkette, let's go check it out. Professor, you stay here in case Brook comes back."

"Don't make me wait too long!" Professor Hastings shouted as we ran away. We ran through Pueltown and stopped when we found Brook standing on the harbor exactly where we first met Team Dim sun.

"Hi, Brook!" I said. He turned to me. "Can you tell us why the Norward Bridge is still stuck open?"

"Hey, Rangers," Brook said. "I'd like to see the bridge lowered into place as much as you. But the key for raising and lowering the bridge is deep under the sea."

"What?" I exclaimed. "How did that happen?"

"When I jumped into the sea the key slipped out of my pocket!" Brook replied.

"Okay, we get the picture," Barlow said. He turned to me. "Sparkette, can you swim? I would like you to retrieve the key from under the sea."

"I can swim fine," I replied. "But I don't think I can hold my breath long enough to get to the bottom of the ocean!"

"Take this, then," Barlow said. He pulled something out from his pocket and handed it to me. "This Micro Aqualung will let you breathe underwater."

"Great!" I said. "Thanks! Barlow, are you coming with me?"

"I… uh… I'll stay on shore," Barlow said. "To watch over Pachirisu for you. Land Pokemon can't go underwater."

"Come on, Barlow!" I said. "Brook could watch her!"

"Uh… I think it'd be better if I sit this one out," Barlow replied.

"Okay," I said. Barlow obviously didn't want to talk about the reason, so I let it go. "Brook, do you know where you dropped the key?"

Brook nodded. "I can take you there by boat," Brook said. "You must let me take care of things!"

"Okay…" I said hesitantly.

Brook smiled and ran off somewhere. A few minutes later he came riding up to the harbor on a boat. Brook helped me onto the boat and we took off. The boat stopped over a darker part of the ocean.

"I think it was around here," Brook said. "Are you ready, Sparkette?"

I nodded, and dived into the water. As soon as I was underwater I slipped the Micro Aqualung on. I took a deep breath in, then sighed. The Aqualung worked. I looked around for a little bit, until I found something shiny at the bottom of the ocean floor.

The key! I swam toward it as quickly as I could. I hadn't gone swimming in a while! However, before I could even get close to the key, a Sharpedo came out of nowhere and ate the key. Well, at least he put it in his mouth. He then swam away. I started to swim after it, but my styler started beeping.

"Voicemail, Voicemail!" Barlow said. "Have you found the key yet?"

"Yes," I replied. I was surprised that my voice actually sounded normal through the Micro Aqualung. "But I didn't get it yet. A Sharpedo came and took the key."

"What?" Barlow exclaimed. "Fine, I'm upgrading to a full Mission. Get the bridge key back from Sharpedo!"

"Got it!" I said. My styler beeped as Barlow hung up.

I swam down the path that Sharpedo had taken. The path was pretty straight forward, and pretty soon I was at the edge of the reef. I couldn't go any further. But Sharpedo didn't seem to have a problem. He swam through the two reefs with ease, and continued on to another part of the ocean.

Now how was I supposed to do that? It was too dangerous for me to swim through the gap there. As though answering my unspoken prayers, my styler bepped.

"Voicemail, Voicemail!" Barlow said. "If you need to swim across deep canyons a Mantine can help you… Or so I'm told. Anyway, catch some Mantine!"

Before I could even say anything, Barlow hung up. Thank you Barlow! At least someone knew what I was supposed to be doing down here.

Luckily, there was a Mantine nearby. It was the first time I had attempted a capture underwater. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be! The density of the water made it difficult to move my arm.

Eventually, I managed to capture the Mantine. "Hey, Mantine," I said. "Can you give me a ride?"

The Mantine lowered it's fin, allowing me to climb on top of it. As soon as I was on top of it, the Mantine swam through the chasm. Just as we got to next section of the sea, I saw Sharpedo swim away. Darn it! We just missed him…

And unfortunately he was also getting a larger head start on us, since we had to go around a reef just to get to where the Sharpedo ran off to. When we were over a reef again, I hopped off the Mantine. Where did Sharpedo go? I swam down the path I think Sharpedo had traveled, and continued through the reef.

Luckily, it wasn't too hard to find Sharpedo. The path he took lead to a dead end. Before I could try to swim after him, my styler beeped once again.

"Voicemail, Voicemail! Barlow again!" Barlow's voice called through my styler. "Sharpedo swim very fast… apparently. So you'll have to catch a fast moving current to catch your Sharpedo."

"Okay," I said. "Thanks for the advice." I hung up me styler, and started to swim toward the Sharpedo. It started to swim away as soon as I got close to it. Barlow was right, Sparpedo did swim extreamly fast. Luckily, the reef we were swimming around had many currents running around it, so I was able to catch up to Sharpedo pretty quickly.

When I started to capture Sharpedo he seemed determined to eat my capture disk. He kept on biting at it. Did Sharpedo eat everything?

I eventually managed to catch Sharpedo. When I did, I examined the Sharpedo. It looked like it was sick… was they key causing it discomfort? Sharpedo opened his mouth to reveal the key. I retrieved it, and Sharpedo smiled at me, then swam away.

* * *

**So I decided to only comment at the end for a while, unless there's something I really need to say on the chapter. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Be sure to leave a review!**

**Next update shall be soon**


	12. Welcome to Altru Park

"Well, I'll be!" Brook said as I climbed onto the boat. "You found the key, haven't you?"

"Yep!" I replied, holding up the golden key.

"I'll be frank with you, I thought there was no chance you would find it!" Brook said, laughing. That sounded like something Keith would say… I really wish I could've smacked Brook. "Anyway," Brook continued. "Back to the harbor we go!"

I didn't really want to talk to Brook, so we went to the harbor in silence. When we arrived we found Barlow waiting for us on the dock, along with Pachirisu. Pachirisu ran up to me as soon as I stepped of the boat. I picked her up, smiling. She wasn't very happy about this because I was still wet from the water. "Thank you for watching over her, Barlow!" I said.

"It was no problem," Barlow replied. "That was pretty impressive work, by the way. Wasn't it rough underwater?"

"Nope," I said. "It was actually kind of fun!"

Barlow shook his head as though he were scared by the thought. "But all that water… how did you… Oh well. Mission Clear, Sparkette!"

Pachirisu lept out of my arms and ran around me happily as I did my Ranger Pose. "Let's return to the Norward Bridge," Barlow said. I nodded, and ran toward the bridge, followed closely by Barlow and Brook.

"Hi Professor Hastings!" I called as we walked up to the bridge.

"Sparkette, what took you so long?" Hastings demanded. I sighed. He was the same as ever!

"It was harder to get the key than we thought it would be," I replied. "A Sharpedo took it deeper under water."

"Who cares about what happened?" Professor Hastings demanded. You were the one who asked! "Just hurry up and lower the bridge so I can get back to the Ranger Union!"

"Hey!" Brook protested, before I even got a chance to move. "I told you, for lowering the bridge just let me take care of things!" Good. I didn't know how to operate a bridge! I handed the key to Brook, and he walked into a control room. Pretty soon, there was a loud rumbling noise and the bridge slowly lowered once again.

Almost as soon as the safety bar was lifted, a person in a green suit ran up to us. "Professor Hastings!" He exclaimed. He knew Professor Hastings? How? "Boy, I'm glad to see you safe and sound! It's so unlike your impatient self to sleep over somewhere else. You sure had me worried!"

"Ah, Murph!" Professor Hastings said. "Who are you calling impatient? We must return to the Union and conduct a meeting to counter the Gigaremo! Barlow, we must hurry!"

Professor Hastings jogged across the bridge followed closely by Barlow. The guy in a green suit sighed, and started to walk after them.

"Ummm, excuse me!" I said. The guy turned to me as though he just noticed I existed. "But who are you?"

"Oh!" He replied. "I'm Murph! I'm the head of PR for the Ranger Union!" Murph laughed as I stared at him, confused. "That means I get access to all of the Union's Ranger databases."

"It's nice to meet you, Murph," I said. "My name is…"

"Stop!" Murph cried. "I already know who you are! It's my job to know these things!" That's a very weird job… "So! Your name is…"

I laughed. Looks like he didn't do his job very well! "My name is Sparkette," I said.

"And you are right!" Murph exclaimed. "Sparkette it is! That's completely correct! I just needed to confirm it!"

"Sure…" I said, sceptically.

"Anyway," Murph said. "You just finished a Mission, right?" I nodded. "Then you must be tired! I know a perfect place for goofing off… I mean relaxing… up ahead!"

"That sounds great!" I replied. "Can you lead the way?"

Murph nodded, and he lead me across the bridge. The bridge basically let out into the park, and I'm pretty sure if it had been more complicated than that Murph wouldn't have been able to find it.

The park was definitely very pretty. It was covered in beautiful hedges, and there was a fountain in the middle. People were walking all over the park, but a particular blonde mushroom boy caught my eyes.

"Isaac?" I said. The blonde boy turned to me, then smiled.

"Sparkette!" He cried. He ran up to me, his lab coat blowing in the wind. "How are you? I haven't seen you in a while!"

"I'm great!" I replied. Murph looked really confused, so I turned to him. "This is Isaac. I went to school with him."

"Hey, remember when I told you about Altru Inc?" He asked. I nodded. "Well, it's right by this park! Do you want to come check it out?"

Murph gasped. "You work at Altru Inc?" He exclaimed. "That's so cool! Sparkette, let's go!" Okay, I guess I really didn't get a choice in this.

Isaac smiled at me again. "Let's go, then!" he said. "I'll lead the way!"

Isaac lead Murph and I through the park until we reached a giant purple building. The tower that the lady on Lookout Ridge showed us! Isaac really worked there?

I looked up at the tower. It was definitely a construction site! Above the… fifth floor or something the building was still a wire frame. Another thing that caught my eye about the tower was the flame insignia in front of the door. I felt like I had seen it somewhere before…

"Welcome to Altru Tower!" Isaac said cheerfully.

"Altru Tower?" I said, confused. "I thought there was a contest to name this tower."

"There is," Murph said. "They're just calling it Altru Tower temporarily. Let's check out the inside."

I nodded, and the three of us walked into the tower. Once again, the flame insignia was on the carpet right inside of the door. Why did it look so familiar?

"Welcome to Altru Inc!" Isaac said, pulling me inside. He lead Murph and I over to some glass cases. "The ground floor is always open so people can see the exhibits." I started to look at the cases, but Isaac pulled me away once again before I could get a good look at them. He dragged me all the way over to some portraits of three guys.

"Isaac, who are these people?" I asked.

"These are the portraits of Altru's presidents over the years," Isaac replied. "They're all amazing people. The first portrait is of our founder, and first president, Doyle M. Hall." The man in the portrait was wearing a cowboy hat and had a bushy white beard. He seemed to have had his portrait done later in his life than the other two.

"Next, in the middle is our second president, Brighton Hall." Isaac continued. This man seemed to be a lot classier than the first; he was wearing a blue suit with an orange bowtie and had smooth, brown hair and a matching mustache.

"And the final portrait is of our current President, Blake…" Isaac started. He was stopped by the sound of doors swinging open. The three of us turned to the entrance to see a green haired man walk out. He was kinda short and wore a purple and white striped shirt. Why? That is the weirdest fashion choice ever. Purple and green… no.

Anyway, he was followed by a man with long black hair tied back in a ponytail. He also wore a black suit and pitch black sunglasses. Both of these men were a little bit creepy. The two men started to walk through the room. All of the workers rushed and lined up on the edges of the carpet, as though they were making a walkway for him.

"President Hall!" A female employee said. President? Which one? Who was the other guy? "Welcome back, sir!"

The short green man rushed ahead to stand next to the elevator. The black haired man stopped in the middle of the carpet. "Thank you, my people!" he said. I turned to the portraits behind me. The last one was of the black haired man. What did Isaac say his name was? "I'll ask that you take care not to overwork yourselves. May we all work toward a bright future for the Almia Region!"

The short green man clapped his hands. "That'll do. Staff, back to your workplaces. We wouldn't want to inconvenience our customers." The workers nodded and went back to their stations.

"Isaac," I said. "Who is that?"

"That is our current president, Blake Hall," Isaac replied. "And the other guy's name is Wheeler. You're really lucky to get to see him in person!" Blake Hall turned at the sound of Isaac's voice.

"Ah, Professor Isaac!" he said, walking over to us. Professor? Not bad, Isaac! "I take it your research is going well?" His eyes flickered to me. "Oh? And who is our Ranger guest?"

"She's a classmate from the Ranger School," Isaac replied. "We graduated together. We just happened to run into each other, so I decided to give her a tour."

"What might your name be?" Blake asked.

"My name is Sparkette," I said, politely. He held out his hand, and I shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hall."

"The pleasure is all mine," Blake replied. "I've always admired Rangers for the work they do. May your work be commended."

"Umm, thank you, I guess," I said.

"Let us all do our best toward a bright future for the Almia Region," Blake said. That was a little creepy… "Now Professor Isaac, shall we return to work?"

Isaac nodded. "Sorry to cut this short, Sparkette," he said. "I really wanted to show you my new invention! It's really cool, it can…"

"Professor Isaac!" Wheeler said, quickly. "We need to get back to work." Why did he interrupt Isaac? It was like he didn't want me to hear about his invention. Isaac stared at me apologetically.

"Maybe some other time, Isaac," I said. "I should probably go too."

"Okay," Isaac replied, sounding slightly disappointed. "See you soon, I hope!" He and Wheeler stepped into the elevator.

"I look forward to seeing you again as well," Blake said, pushing up his sunglasses. "Ranger Sparkette." The way he said my name made me shiver.

With a toss of his hair, Blake followed Isaac and Wheeler into the elevator. Murph turned to me, smiling. Why was he smiling? That Blake guy creeped me out!

"Woohoo!" Murph said. "We got really lucky there! We met the Altru president! We can brag about this at The Union!" Was Altru Inc really that big of a company? "That's really cool that you have a friend who works here!"

"Oh, you mean Isaac?" I replied as we started to walk out of the building. "On graduation day Isaac told me he was coming here, but I had no idea it was such a big deal!"

"Oh, Altru Inc is great!" Murph said. "Ever since they were founded by Doyle M. Hall, Altru Inc has been working toward a brighter future for Almia!"

Great company, huh? Then why was their president so creepy? And what was up with that Wheeler guy? He was just freaky. But if Murph trusted them, then I guess I did as well. And apparently it was really cool to work for them, so Isaac couldn't be too bad. Besides, becoming a Professor for such a big company was really impressive! And he already invented something for them! Isaac must be as smart as they said!

"Uh, Sparkette why is your styler beeping?" Murph asked, jolting me back to reality. I was so lost in thought I hadn't even realised I was getting a voicemail, or where we were. I had followed Murph all the way to the middle of a path by a mountain.

"Voicemail, voicemail!" Barlow's voice called through my styler. "The counter-Gigaremo meeting is starting soon, and we need your help. Bring a Pokemon that can do a Target Clear on a red Gigaremo."

"Got it," I said. "See you soon."

My styler beeped as Barlow hung up. "So, Murph," I said. "How do we get to the Union?"

"Uh, I'm already taking you there," Murph replied. "I asked if you wanted to see the Ranger Union and you nodded." I did? I didn't even realise! When did that happen? "We should be there in a few minutes."

"Okay," I said. I followed Murph down the winding path. We only stopped once to catch a Bibarel. Like Murph had said, we were pretty close to the Ranger Union and reached it in no time.

"Welcome to the Ranger Union, Sparkette!" Murph said as we walked through the double doors of a giant building with a tree on top of it.

"Wow…" I said. "Murph, you really work here?"

Murph nodded. "Come with me to the Conference Room," he said. "Everyone's waiting."

Murph lead me to the second floor, where we were stopped by a brown haired boy wearing a lab coat. "Hi, are you Sparkette?" He asked. I nodded. "I'm Nage. We've been expecting you. Come with me."

Nage brought me to the giant room in the center of the floor. Inside, we found Barlow, who was standing next to a red Gigaremo, and Professor Hastings. There were also a few people I didn't know in the room.

"Hi," I said. "Sorry I'm late. We got caught up with something in the park."

"No problem. We didn't really do anything yet," Barlow said. He turned to face the rest of the room. "This is our prize rookie, Sparkette. She figured out how to stop the Gigaremo. Care to give us a little demonstration?"

"Sure," I replied. "Bibarel, use water gun on this machine."

The Bibarel nodded, and unleashed a jet of water. The Gigaremo exploded, and Bibarel ran away. Professor Hastings walked over to the Gigaremo. "Gigaremo units can be ruined using the methods you just witnessed," he said.

"But just keep in mind there are other types of Gigaremo," I said. "So far I've seen blue, yellow, red and green Gigaremo. All of them need a different kind of Target Clear ruin them."

"Sparkette," Professor Hastings said. "Thank you for the information."

Two of the people I didn't know pulled the broken Gigaremo to the corner of the room. "Anyway, did you notice anything strange about that Gigaremo?" Professor Hastings asked. "How it failed to hypnotise the Pokemon in the building?" Honestly, I didn't notice. But to be fair, I didn't really run into a wild Pokemon. "Everyone, look down at the Underfoot Monitor, if you will."

Underfoot Monitor? I jumped as the pattern on the floor changed from a map of the Almia region to a diagram of the Gigaremo. The floor was a screen? How? That was so cool!

"Have a look at the diamond-shaped section of the Gigaremo diagram," Professor said. "There was a small, black stone fitted into this section." The stone Elaine wanted to destroy? "I removed the stone when I rebuilt the Gigaremo."

"Is that why the Gigaremo failed to hypnotize the Pokemon?" I asked. Professor Hastings nodded.

"It seems clear to me that the stone embodies some mysterious power," Professor Hastings said. The images of the Gigaremo faded away from the ground.

"We're going to have to search for and destroy these Gigaremo one by one," Barlow said. "You can be sure we Area Rangers will be taking care of that."

"The Union is already working hard on the analysis of the black stone," The Ranger with green hair said. Wait… green haired Ranger? She was one of the Top Rangers! "We've also launched an investigation of Team Dim Sun."

"It seems Almia's peace is being threatened by a group calling themselves Team Dim Sun," The other woman I didn't know said. She looked familiar. Maybe I saw her in a newspaper as well. "But they don't frighten me. You are here to serve and protect Almia. I only ask that you work as one toward our common goal. Safeguard the people, the environment, and the beloved pokemon of Almia." She was the chairperson of the Union! What was her name… Erma? I think Rhythmi showed me an article on her once. She had a very similar hairstyle to me, except instead of brown her hair was white. She wore a brown skirt and a matching shawl thing. Erma walked out of the room, followed by Professor Hastings and the three Rangers I didn't know. Barlow and I got ready to leave, but we were stopped by the Top Ranger.

"Excuse me, rookie," she said to me. "You said your name was Sparkette, right?" I nodded, too stunned to say anything. "I'm Wendy! Do you mind if I ask you a few questions while you are here?"

"No…" I replied, completely in awe of the Top Ranger. "You can ask me anything."

Wendy smiled at me. "So what did Team Dim Sun tell you before you battled them?"

"Well, they said they were conducting an experiment with the Gigaremo," I replied. "And that they succeeded with it."

Wendy was writing down my answer in a little notebook. "And what method of transportation did they use when they ran away?"

"They took of in a giant ship," I replied. "And they took one remaining Gigaremo with them."

"What color Gigaremo did they flee with?" Wendy asked.

"A yellow one," I replied. "That's the only kind I don't know how to destroy, so don't ask."

"Okay, this is my last question," Wendy said. "Is it true that the pokemon hypnotized by the Gigaremo couldn't be befriended?"

"Yes," I replied. "They would run away as soon as you captured them. It was really weird…"

Wendy closed her notebook and smiled at me. "Thank you for answering all of my questions!" Wendy said. "I'm sure they will help in our investigation! See you around!"

Barlow turned to me as Wendy walked out of the room. "I have to go discuss something with Professor Hastings," Barlow said. "I'll be in the research room. See you later." Barlow walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Pachirisu.

We walked out of the room and started to look for Barlow. We needed to get back to the Base! I eventually found him talking to Professor Hastings in a small room on the second floor.

"Barlow!" I said. "Shouldn't we be getting home? Everyone's probably worried about us."

"There's no need to worry," Barlow said. "They know that we're at the Union. Besides, you must be exhausted. We can stay here for tonight."

"Okay," I said. I would much rather sleep at home! "See you in the morning, Barlow."

* * *

**So I almost forgot to post today. I spent the entire day completing Shadows of Almia. And by completing, I mean I caught every single Pokemon, cleared every single quest, and did the Capture Arena. Day well spent, I believe. **

**Anyway, leave a review!**


	13. Peril Cliffs

**Hey guys, just want to say that I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. It was the end of the marking period at my school, and I'm getting ready to leave for vacation. So updates will be slow for a while**

**But I haven't forgotten about this! I'm still going to post it! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon**

* * *

When I woke up the next morning, I found Barlow waiting for me on the ground floor. "Morning, Sparkette," Barlow said as I stepped of the escalator. "Ready to head home?"

I nodded. "Let's go!" I said. Maybe things would make sense back home.

Barlow and I rushed out of the Ranger Union and started running down the path that lead to home. However, before we could get very far we were stopped by the ground shaking. "What was that?" I asked. "An earthquake?" Barlow shrugged. Even Pachirisu seemed confused at what had just happened.

We waited for a while, then after determining it was safe, we continued down the road. About a minute later, however, the ground rumbled again. "That tremor was even worse than the last one!" Barlow exclaimed. "What's going on here?"

A woman ran out from a nearby cabin. "Rangers!" she exclaimed. We turned to her. "I saw a man with some big Pokemon earlier. He said it was for mountain-climbing training, and went to the Peril Cliffs behind our home. But after they left these tremors started. I hope they're okay..." Peril Cliffs? Why would anyone want to go to a place called Peril Cliffs? What was this mountain-climbing guy thinking?

"Don't worry," Barlow said. "We'll go investigate." Apparently the same thing Barlow was thinking right now. "Let's go to Peril Cliffs, Sparkette!" And now I was dragged into this. So much for having a normal day. But then again, what was a normal day for a Ranger?

"Sounds like a great idea!" I replied, with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. "How do we get to Peril Cliffs anyway?"

"Just follow this path up past my cabin," the woman replied. "You'll be at the cliff in no time."

"Thank you!" I called as Barlow and I started to run toward the cliff. I couldn't believe someone had actually named this place Peril Cliffs. Great way to bring in tourists! I did see how this place was good for mountain-climbing, though. Barlow and I had to climb up a lot of vines just to get to the top, and some cliff sides were longer than others. It was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. Luckily, I had lived near a jungle back in the Fiore Region and got a lot of practice climbing vines.

Pretty soon, we reached the top of the cliffs. Or at least I think it was the top. There didn't seem to be a way to go any higher, anyway.

"Sparkette, check this out!" Barlow exclaimed. He ran over to an oversized leaf that was a slightly lighter shade of green than the grass.

"What, the leaf?" I asked. "What's so special about it?"

"I don't know who named it, but this is Springy Grass!" Barlow replied. I snickered. Springy Grass? Who comes up with these things? "Springy as in springs. You know, the bouncy kind?"

"Barlow, I know what springs are," I said.

Barlow laughed feebly. "Anyway, when I was a kid, these plants kept me amused all day long."

"So why are these things called Springy Grass?" I asked.

Barlow stepped aside, giving me a clearer path to the Springy Grass. "Why don't you find out for yourself?" he said. I stared at the grass. Find out for myself? What did he mean by that? Should I be scared? Probably.

Before I could move, Barlow shoved me onto the grass. A few seconds later, the grass sprung up and flung me across the gorge. Pretty soon Barlow landed next to me. "Let's go, Sparkette!" he said cheerfully. How was he not phased by a leaf flinging him across a giant chasm?

We continued on in silence, and guess what? We weren't at the top yet! There were more vines to climb! We started to walk over to them, but we were stopped by the ground rumbling again. It was the strongest it had ever been here.

"Sparkette, look at that guy," Barlow said. He pointed off the side of the cliff. I followed his finger to find a man in a black uniform. A Dim Sun minion. He was standing in front of a... computer or something. What was that thing? Next to the guy there were two Rampardos attacking the side of the cliff. That wasn't good.

"We need to get down there!" I said. "But this cliff is too high to jump."

"Hey, look over there!" Barlow said. He was staring at a smaller ledge on the other side with vines running down the side. "We should be able to climb down there."

"Then let's get over there!" I said. I started to climb the vines next to us, followed by Barlow. We continued to climb up the cliffs until we reached some platforms. I caught a few Mawile, because I happen to like Mawile, and continued on through the next path.

"Hey, Sparkette!" Barlow said. "Do you hear that?" The pulsing sound of a Gigaremo was in the air.

"Oh, no!" I said. "It's a Gigaremo! We have to find it!"

I ran through the cliffs, leaving Barlow in my wake, hopping down ledges, and climbing back down the cliffs. Near the bottom I found some Springy Grass, which took me up to the top where I found a yellow Gigaremo. Wait, how do you destroy those? I pointed my styler at it. Crushing it? Was it made of plastic or something? Great design choice! Luckily, one of the Mawile I captured earlier was able to break the Gigaremo. After the Gigaremo was destroyed, I hopped onto another Springy Grass. This one took me back towards the entrance. I hopped down the cliffs again until I found another yellow Gigaremo. I destroyed it with the other Mawile, and the pulsing noise finally stopped.

"Great, job, Sparkette," Barlow said, panting. Oops. Guess I kind of left him behind… Oh well, at least all of the Gigaremo were destroyed.

"Let's go find out what that guy is up to!" I said. Barlow nodded. We climbed down the ledge we saw earlier and walked up to the guy in front of a laptopy thing. The Rampardos slammed against the cliff wall over and over again. What was the guy doing to control them?

"Hey!" I said. "What are you up to?" The man in front of the computer turned to me. Definitely a Dim Sun person. "Why are those Rampardos ramming the cliff wall?"

"W-What are you people?" The minion demanded. "Are you Rangers?" I nodded, smiling. "Uh…" The guy said. "I'm a geologist! I'm merely conducting soil analysis. That's what this computer is for!"

"Oh, really?" I exclaimed. "That's so cool! I've always loved geology." At least ever since it helped me bother a Dim Sun person. "So Mr. Geologist, what's the soil composition around these parts?"

"Huh?" The guy replied. "The soil composition? Um, well, let's see, there's red clay, and some calcium, and a whole lot of dirt…"

The guy didn't reply for a while. "Ah, forget this!" he said. "You're good to see through my disguise! I'm really a member of Team Dim Sun!" Wow, that was a lot easier to get him to admit that I had thought it would be. "But I won't tell you what I'm doing. My Rampardos will explain!"

The Team Dim Sun minion pushed a few buttons on the keyboard thingy. The Rampardos turned to Barlow and me, and attacked.

I was so glad Barlow was with me. Catching one Rampardos was hard enough, I did not want to have to catch two! My Pachirisu couldn't really do anything against Rampardos, so she had to sit out for this capture. I really wished she could have helped, because one of the Rampardos's attacks dropped rocks onto my capture line. And the rest of his attacks were really strong as well. I had to draw lines around him in between his attacks so my styler didn't break.

Barlow and I finished our captures at around the same time. The minion's laptop thing exploded as the Rampardos ran away. "My tunnel digging experiment is a failure!" The minion exclaimed. "My Rampardos ran away, too!" The guy turned to us. "Don't think you'll win, you clueless Rangers! Team Dim Sun will put your lights out!"

The Dim Sun ran away. "Did he seriously just say that?" I asked.

"I think so," Barlow replied. "Want to forget he said it?" I nodded. "So!" Barlow continued, as though nothing had happened. "How was that creep controlling the Rampardos? There wasn't a Gigaremo in sight."

"I think he might have been using the keyboard thing," I replied. "Right before the Rampardos attacked us, he typed something on it."

"That could be a possibility," Barlow replied. "Well, even though a bigger mystery emerged, we at least found what was causing the tremors. We should go report back to the woman who gave us information about the Dim Sun guy."

I nodded, and Barlow and I ran down the path the Dim Sun had taken. After jumping over a giant rock with some Springy Grass, we were back at the entrance. We walked back to the cabin where we found the woman waiting outside for us.

"We've determined the cause of the tremors, and we've put a stop to them. You won't have to worry about that anymore," Barlow said. The woman smiled.

"Thank you so much, Rangers!" The woman replied. Her smile quickly faded. "Nothing terrible is happening, is it?"

"If you spot any shady characters, don't try to confront them, please," Barlow said, avoiding the woman's question. "Instead, please contact the Ranger Union as soon as possible. Well, we're off to Vientown." Finally. I was getting sick of this place.

Barlow and I started to run down the path that lead to the park. On the way, we were stopped by two Pokemon running up to us. "Barlow, what are those?" I asked.

"Those are Doduo!" Barlow replied. "If you're tired, like from climbing up and down cliffs, Doduo are a welcome sight! I think you're ready to learn about Doduo's special ability." Special ability? "If you earn a Doduo's trust they will let you ride on it's back. Doduo run much faster than humans, and it gives you a bit of a break."

"So we just capture the Doduo?" I clarified. Barlow nodded. "And then they will let us ride on their backs?"

"Yep!" Barlow replied. "That pretty much covers it!" He walked up to one of the Doduo and captured it. As soon as the golden light engulfed it, he hopped on top of it. "Don't go riding a Pokemon into a house, though. It's dangerous, and just downright rude! See ya back in Vientown!"

Barlow and his Doduo started down the road as I caught the other Doduo. I hopped on it, then followed Barlow back through the park and towards Vientown. Unfortunately, I didn't run into Isaac on the way back. I was really curious about his invention!

When I hopped of Doduo and entered the Ranger Base I found everyone waiting for me. "Hi, Sparkette!" Luana said cheerfully. "Welcome back! You're so lucky you got to stay the night at the Ranger Union!"

"Sparkette, what took you so long?" Barlow said. "Did you have trouble controlling the Doduo?"

I shook my head, but didn't tell him why I was late. I probably stayed in Altru Park far longer than I should have. Barlow laughed. "Sparkette, you've had a long day," he said. "You should get some rest."

"Okay," I replied. "I'll see you tomorrow, everyone!"

* * *

**Okay seriously, it's literally called Peril Cliffs? That sounds like a great place to visit!**

**Anyway, next update should be soon**


	14. Outdoor class, round two!

**I was really looking forward to writing this chapter! I loved teaching at outdoor class! It was actually pretty fun!**

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

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The first thing I noticed when I walked out of the changing room the next morning was that Barlow was nowhere in sight. And that Ollie was visiting again. "Good morning, Sparkette!" Crawford said. He was sitting in the corner of the room talking to Luana.

"Hi," I replied. "Where's Barlow?"

"Barlow left earlier for Boyleland," Crawford said, walking up to me. "Apparently all of the island's Pokemon went and disappeared."

"How is that even possible?" I asked. "Do you think Barlow will be okay?"

"I don't think Barlow will have much of a problem," Crawford replied. "But he won't be back for a while. That means I'm Barlow while he's gone. So, let's not waste anymore time! Today is the Ranger School's Outdoor Class."

"Really, already?" I said. "It's been an entire year since we met?" And over a year since I met Keith? Oh, and Rhythmi too.

Crawford nodded. "Hard to believe, right? Anyway, Barlow was asked to serve as one-day teacher for that event. He specifically ordered me to ask you to do it. So, off you go!" I sighed. So much for relaxing. Can there be one day where I am not woken up with a assignment?

"Come on, Pachirisu!" I said. "Let's go visit the Ranger School!" We ran out of the base and through Vientown. When I arrived at the bridge that connected, I stopped in my tracks. Two men wearing black uniforms were standing in the middle of the bridge. One was standing in front of a computer thing. The same thing the guy at Peril Cliffs had. Two Dim Sun minions.

The guy who wasn't in front of the computer laughed. "There!" He exclaimed. "Spin 'round and 'round!" I looked around the guys to see a Croagunk running around in circles.

"Now jump!" The other person said. He tapped a few keys on the computer and the Croagunk started to hop up and down. What was that thing? How was it controlling that Pokemon?

"Man, this machine is awesome!" The first person said. "Make him do something more complicated!"

"Well, okay," The minion in front of a computer said. "Let's see, fly in the air while you're asleep!" I facepalmed. Did the minion really think a Croagunk could do that?

"And how is that supposed to work?" I asked. The minions turned to me in shock. "Croagunk can't fly."

"Well, maybe the Miniremo can make it fly!" The computer minion said. "It's much better than a clunky Gigaremo!"

"A Miniremo?" I said, a hint of curiosity in my voice. "How is it different from a Gigaremo? Don't they do the same thing?"

"They are completely different!" The other minion said. "The Miniremo has a hundred different commands, and it's light and easy to tote around!"

The computer minion nudged him. "Don't tell her that!" He shouted. "Let's just show her!" He turned back to the Miniremo and punched some keys. The Croagunk stared at him, confused. "Ah!" He exclaimed. "I pushed the wrong keys…" I laughed, taking a step closer to the minions.

"Hit cancel!" The other minion shouted. "Hurry up!"

"I'm sorry chief!" The first guy said. "It's too late! We'll have to muscle our way through this one!" Muscle their way though? What was that supposed to mean? The guy closed his Miniremo, and shoved the Croagunk towards me.

I hastily pulled out my styler, slightly annoyed by what had just happened for two reasons. This was going to make me late to Outdoor Class! Also, I would have prefered watching the minions flail around with the Croagunk. It wasn't really hard to catch, it was just inconvenient. I did not want Ms. April to get mad at me for being late! And if Mr. Kincaid found out I broke more rules…

The Croagunk ran away as soon as I had captured it. "Now, was that really too hard?" I asked. The minions stepped away from me, terrified.

"Chief, let's bail out!" one of the minions said. I couldn't tell them apart.

"Bailing out sounds fine, but where?" The other guy replied. "That way leads to the Ranger School, and this way the Ranger." Haha. Got them trapped!

"Then does that mean..." The first said. The other guy nodded.

"That's what it means," The other replied. The two looked at each other, then jumped off the side of the bridge.

"Hey!" I cried, running to the edge of the bridge. "Come back here!"

"Sparkette? Is that you?" I turned to see Ms. April standing by the entrance to the Ranger School. "What are you doing here?"

"Ms. April!" I said. "I'm filling in for Barlow today."

"Oh, okay," Ms. April replied. "Thank you for your time. It's good to see you again. We have some time before Outdoor Class starts. Would you like to come say hello to everyone?"

"That would be great!" I said. Ms. April and I walked into the Ranger School together. This was really weird… it was like my first day of school all over again. Ms. April walked right past Mr. Kincaid's room, and took me to the staff room.

"Ms. April, aren't we going to see Mr. Kincaid?" I asked, although I didn't really mind that we weren't going to see him. I really hated that guy. And he hated me right back. Although, it might have been funny to see the look on his face when he found out I was back in the school…

"Oh, I guess I should tell you," Ms. April replied. "Mr. Kincaid had to take a leave of absence for some reason. We have a new teacher in his place."

"What are you doing with the basement now?" I said. "Wasn't that Mr. Kincaid's lab when I was here?"

Ms. April chuckled. "Oh, that," she said. "The students have taken over the basement to use for their tests of courage."

"Oh, they still do that?" I asked. Ms. April nodded. "But it's probably less scary now that students are allowed in the basement." I said.

Ms. April walked into the staff room. I followed her in to find Principal Lamont waiting for us.

"Welcome back, Sparkette," Principal Lamont said with a smile.

"Hi Principal Lamont," I replied. "It's good to see everyone again."

"Well, this should be an enjoyable Outdoor Class!" Principal Lamont said. "This year, again, a graduate of our School returns to pass on our knowledge. The torch of the Ranger School's tradition is handed off again." Ah, Principal Lamont was the same as ever! It was really cool to be back at the school, although it was a little weird that Mr. Kincaid left right after I graduated. Where did he go? Why did he leave at that specific time? At least everyone else at the school hadn't changed too much.

"Sparkette, please join us at the Pledge Stone whenever you are ready," Ms. April said. "We'll start the lesson when you arrive." Ms. April and Principal Lamont walked out of the room, leaving me in their wake.

"Let's get started, everyone!" Ms. April announced cheerfully. Everyone in the crowd cheered. I don't think I had ever been so nervous in my life! I was about to teach a bunch of twelve and thirteen year olds, that was only a year younger than me! Some of the kids in the crowd might have even been older than me! I wasn't ready for this! I was still the right age to be in the Ranger School, why was I teaching? Why did Barlow make me do this?

"Allow me to introduce Sparkette!" Ms. April continued. "She is a graduate from our Ranger School, and will be our one day teacher!"

I stepped down from the Pledge Stone, followed by Pachirisu, and flipped on my styler, then spun around in a circle and posed with my styler. "That's what called a Ranger Pose," I explained. "Each Ranger has a special pose to reflect his or her personality and style. I developed mine when I was in school, so maybe those of you who are here to become Rangers should consider making your own." Pachirisu nodded, then leapt up into my arms. I caught her, laughing. "This is Pachirisu, my partner pokemon. Isn't she adorable?"

The girls in the group nodded and giggled, but the boys couldn't care less. "Let's begin the question and answer session!" Ms. April said.

"Did you get good grades at school?" A male student asked.

"Ummm, they were okay," I replied. "But I had the smartest kid ever in my graduating class, so everyone's grades looked bad compared to his."

"It that really true?" The student said.

"Ranger, is your job busy?" A female student asked.

"It's extremely busy," I replied. "Especially with everything that's going on right now."

"Oh, you mean all of the strange incidents in the news?" The student said. I nodded.

"Have you ever seen a real Gigaremo?" A male student asked.

"Yes, I was actually the first Ranger to discover how to destroy one," I replied. "It actually happened a few days after I graduated Ranger School!"

"That's so cool!" The boy said. "I wish I could see a real Gigaremo!" Why? Why would anyone want to see a Gigaremo?

A girl giggled. "Are you in love with anyone?" She asked.

I squeezed Pachirisu tightly. "I don't know the answer to that one," I replied. "So let's just say this. I haven't seen him in a while." I stared at the ground. It was weird to be here without him… this was where we first became friends.

The girl giggled again. "Ooh, is it maybe a former classmate?" I blushed, and held Pachirisu closer.

"How about we move on to the next question?" Ms. April said, really saving me on that one. I wonder if she knew who I was talking about…

"Have you captured more than a hundred Pokemon?" A boy asked. I set Pachirisu on the ground again. I think I was holding her too tightly…

"I don't think so," I replied. "I haven't been a Ranger for that long."

"Well, you'll get there," The boy said.

"Hey, why did you want to become a Ranger?" A girl asked.

"Well, I came to Almia from the Fiore region," I replied. "If you're from Fiore, you probably know about this already, but a few years ago an evil organization tried to take over the world. During the final battle at the Fiore Temple, we were getting reports of a heroic Ranger who was battling the bad guys. When the day was saved and everything was back to normal, I started to run around the jungle near my home pretending to be a Ranger. I was so inspired by the Ranger who saved the world that I wanted to be just like her. So, my parents helped me get into the Ranger School, and here I am now."

Everyone stared at me in awe. "That's so cool…" the girl said. "Now I want to be a Ranger even more!"

"I have a question, Ranger," another girl said. "Is something bad taking place in the Almia region now? Just like when you were back in the Fiore region?"

I sighed. "Yes," I replied. "Something very bad, actually."

"I knew it…" the girl said. Nobody said anything for a while.

"Is it true that Rangers can't go home often?" a boy asked, changing the subject.

"It depends," I replied. "If your family lives close to the base you're assigned to, and if you don't have anything better to do, you can visit them as much as you want. But recently… with all of the crazy stuff going on it's really hard to get some time off." I wish I had more time to visit my family…

"Oh," the boy said, sounding slightly disappointed. "I might not be cut out for this job, then…"

"Are there any more questions?" Ms. April asked, after another long pause. "Are we all done?"

"Yoohoo! I have a question!" a male voice cried. Everyone turned in shock to see two Dim Sun minions standing by the stairs leading to Ascension Square. I gasped. It was the same people who I saw on the bridge. "Dear Ranger," The guy continued. "Why did you have to mess with us earlier?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but the other minion interrupted me. "Oh, you don't need to answer that," he said. "We're just here for payback."

The kids all freaked out, and were soon huddled behind me. I stepped closer to the Dim Sun people. Welp, might as well give the students a show!

"Oh, was I messing with you earlier?" I said. "I thought we were just playing! That Croagunk was really sweet!"

One of the guys growled at me. Wow, good job being civilised, guys! "You'll pay for what you have done!" he shouted.

The guy pulled out a Miniremo. The students gasped. "You might have wrecked one of them, but we had another!" The other guy exclaimed. "So, pop quiz, kiddies! What do you think this is?"

None of the students said anything. The minion waited a second, then made a buzzing sound. What was this, a game show? "Time's up!" he said. "It's our latest weapon, the Miniremo! Go, Carnivine! Humiliate that Ranger!"

I pulled out my styler. "Sorry, but I think you're going to be the ones who are humiliated!" I said. The guy grumbled again, then pushed a few buttons on the Miniremo. Pretty soon, two Carnivine came out of nowhere and pounced at me. "Okay, Pachirisu," I said. "Show them what you've got!" Pachirisu nodded and shot lightning bolts. I knew it wouldn't do too much against the Carnivine, but I wanted to show the students how a Poke assist worked. The school stylers weren't equipped with that feature.

I caught the Carnivine quickly, and they ran away. The Miniremo exploded. One of the minions grumbled. "We got schooled again!" he exclaimed. Really? That's what he's going with? Can't the minions learn to make better puns?

"We looked like buffoons!" The other minion said. The guys exchanged glances, then ran away. I turned back to the students to find them all staring at me.

"You're so cool, Ranger!" They exclaimed, their eyes shining. Ms. April walked up to me.

"Thank you so much for everything today!" She said, smiling. "You represent so much to our students! You left this tiny port of learning into the great wide sea that is this world. Our students look up to you as someone who stands for their hopes and dreams. I hope you'll return to our port even bigger from your worldly experiences."

"It was no problem!" I replied. "I was happy to be able to help!"

"I want to become a Ranger even more now!" A boy said. "You've inspired me today!"

"Thank you!" I said. "Good luck!"

"I want to be a Mechanic!" another boy said. "I want to be like Elaine in Vientown!"

"Oh, I work with her!" I said. "She's really fun, you'll be great!"

"I've helped the milkman a couple of times!" A girl said.

"Little Tim?" I asked. The girl nodded. "Yeah, he gets into trouble a lot. Look forward to helping him even more!" I've helped him a lot as well.

"Hey, may I ask one last question?" A boy asked. I nodded. "Is it fun being a Pokemon Ranger?"

"Yes, it is," I replied. "I really enjoy it."

"Sparkette, thanks to you our Outdoor Class was both fun and thrilling," Ms. April said. "I'm sure the students will never forget this!"

"Sparkette, I'm sure you can overcome any challenge you face," Principal Lamont said. "You've convinced me of that."

"Thank you for being our one day teacher!" Ms. April said.

"Thank you!" All of the students said.

I smiled. "It was no problem," I said. "I was happy to be here!"

"Alright, everyone!" Ms. April exclaimed. "Class dismissed!" Everyone started to walk back to the Ranger School. A man wearing a seafoam green suit walked up to me. Was he the new teacher?

"I know I only just became a teacher, but I hope to raise Rangers like you," he said. Yep, he was Mr. Kincaid's replacement! He seemed to be a lot nicer, though. "You were truly inspirational today!" He followed the students back to the school.

Ms. April walked up to me once again. "Thank you for everything, Sparkette!" She said. "I hope to see you again soon!" She also walked back towards the school. Principal Lamont and I were left alone in the square.

"Um, Sparkette," he said. "Is it alright if I ask a question?"

"Sure," I replied. "What's wrong, Principal Lamont?"

"Chairperson Erma of the Ranger Union," he said. "Is she in good health?"

"Yes," I said, smiling at my former Principal. "Yes she is."

Principal Lamont sighed with relief. "Thank you. That's good to know," he said. He started to walk out of the square, but stopped and turned back to me. "Sparkette, thank you for everything today. Farewell." He walked back to the school.

Once I was alone, I looked up at the Pledge Stone, then out at the ocean. It was nearly sunset. Perfect. I faced the giant stone once again, then started to climb up it, with Pachirisu on my shoulder. It was difficult because I had a Pokemon on my head, but I eventually reached the top. I sat down on the Ranger sign and stared out at the shimmering ocean, with Pachirisu by my side. I couldn't believe it had been a year since that day. I honestly felt like I was back in school, with my two best friends at my side. I stayed on the Pledge Stone as the sun set. I really wished I could have sat there for hours, but I had to get back to the base. I hopped of the stone, and walked back to Vientown.

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**I'm freaking out over here we are so close to seeing Keith again! I'm so excited! **

**BTW, since I'm on vacation I can't promise daily updates. I'm going to be away for the entire week, so yeah.**


	15. Boyleland Volcano

**Annnndddd we are back with another chapter of Shadows of Almia! Sorry for not updating yesterday, I was in a car alllllll day. But it gave me a lot of time to think about these characters, at least. And watch disney movies, that was fun. (It also gave me a lot of ideas for Keith)**

**Anywho, read, review, and enjoy!**

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"Hey Sparkette, check this out!" Elaine said as I walked into the base. She was sitting in the corner with Ollie reading a newspaper. "Your pal Keith is making a name for himself!"

Keith? Elaine handed me the newspaper. It was another special Fiore edition of the Almia Times. It showed images of Keith and Professor Hastings standing in front of the clock tower in Fall City, Keith battling some pink lady, and a red Gigaremo. I smiled. Keith was doing great. I really missed him, though… I wish I could go to Fiore!

Ollie laughed and walked up to me as well. "Sparkette, are you okay?" he said. "You're face is all red!"

"I'm fine," I said, still staring at the newspaper. "Keith is just a really good friend of mine. I'm glad to see he's doing well."

"You can keep that copy if you want," Elaine said. "Ollie got one too, we can just look at that one."

"Thank you!" I replied, tucking the newspaper into my pocket. Suddenly Crawford's styler beeped. He walked over to the corner of the room. Everyone was watching him. What was going on? Why was Crawford's expression so dark? What happened?

"Sparkette, we need you to go to Boyleland immediately," Crawford said, his face grim. "Apparently it's not only the Pokemon that have gone missing, now it's our leader as well!"

"What?" Luana exclaimed. "Barlow's missing?"

"The Union just sent out the call," Crawford said. "Barlow's location signal disappeared off their giant map display. If his styler's functioning, it should be putting out a constant location signal…"

"And it's not there?" Elaine said. Crawford nodded. "That's not good. What's happened?"

"We don't know," Crawford replied. "He didn't send in a report or anything. I'm worried about leader…"

"Don't worry, Crawford!" I said. "I'll go find him! Where should I start looking?"

"The Union Operators reported that his signal vanished in Boyle Volcano," Crawford replied, pacing the room. "He probably dropped his styler in lava or something. Right. That's what happened. It'll be something we can laugh about later. He can't be missing. It's all a bad joke. A really really bad joke." He seemed to be trying to convince himself more than us.

"I'll go there right away!" I said. "But, how do I get to Boyleland?"

Crawford was still pacing the room. He wasn't even paying attention to me anymore. I looked around at everyone else. Did anyone know how to get to Boyleland? Surprisingly, it was Ollie who spoke up.

"You can take a boat from Pueltown to get there," Ollie said. "Just ask Captain Boyle. He'll probably be able to take you if you explain the situation to him."

"Thanks, Ollie!" I said as I started to run out of the base. "Don't worry, Crawford! I'll bring Barlow back safely!"

I ran all the way to the Pueltown harbor. In retrospect I could have caught a Doduo, but I decided not to. I stopped when I got to the harbor. Where was the person I was supposed to meet?

I decided to start my search in the first building. It was a cabin thingy with life preservers on the outside. It looked like a place where a captain would be!

"Excuse me!" I said as I walked into the cabin. "I'm looking for Captain Boyle."

"Aye, that'd be me," A man in a red sailor's outfit said. "How can I help ye?"

"Is there any chance you can take me to Boyleland?" I asked, walking up to the captain. "I have an important mission there."

Captain Boyle nodded. "Aye, it'd be no problem," he said. "I can ferry you to Boyleland on my S.S. Boyle, my pride and joy."

I smiled. "Thank you so much!" I replied. "Can we leave now?" The captain nodded and walked out of the cabin thing through a back door. I followed him out. He lead me down a long dock and he helped me onto a boat. I sat down with Pachirisu on my lap.

A few minutes later the boat started to move, and we were on our way to Boyleland. About halfway through the ride, Pachirisu jumped off my lap.

"Pachirisu, what's wrong?" I asked. Pachirisu let out it's cry and I followed his gaze to see a purple balloon thingy flying over head. Pretty soon more and more started appearing. Were those Pokemon? I didn't think balloons could randomly appear in the middle of the ocean. Suddenly Captain Boyle stepped out of the control room.

"Well, will you look at that!" he said. "Migrating Drifloon! That's a rare sight!"

"Drifloon?" I repeated. "Is that what those purple balloon things are?"

Captain Boyle nodded. "The Drifloon in Almia cross the sea this time of year on seasonal winds. You should consider yourself lucky, Ranger! It's not often that one gets to see the Drifloon on their migration."

"Cool," I said. "So where are these Drifloon going?"

"Probably the same place we are," Captain Boyle replied. "We should be in Boyleland soon, by the way."

He stepped back into the control room, leaving Pachirisu and me to watch the Drifloon the rest of the way to Boyleland. The Captain was right, we were very close to Boyleland. We arrived within a matter of minutes. Pachirisu and I hopped of the boat.

"Thank you for the ride, Captain Boyle," I said.

"Aye, it was no problem," He replied. "I hope to see you again, Ranger! Good luck with your mission!"

"Thank you!" I called as Captain Boyle sailed away. I turned to face the town. It seemed to be built on a craggy coast. There was a Ranger Depot, but I didn't really need one. I started to walk up the stairs next to the Depot, but I was stopped by a little girl.

"Hey, are you a Ranger?" she said. I nodded. "A different Ranger came yesterday! Are you here for the same reason?"

"Yes, pretty much," I replied. "I heard all of the Pokemon in your village disappeared, so I came here to look for them and that other Ranger. Do you know where he went?"

The girl nodded. "He went into the volcano," she replied. "But you need to get the elder's permission if you want to go as well."

Sounded like a plan to me! "Thank you!" I said, as I ran off to find the Elder's house. I probably should have asked the girl where he lived…

I basically walked into the first house I saw, and luckily that seemed to be the right one! Inside I found the elder standing with a younger girl. His granddaughter, maybe?

"Who are you?" he demanded when I walked into his house. "Ah, you're the missing Ranger, yes? So, where are the Pokemon? You've not brought them back?"

"Grandpa, you're getting your Rangers mixed up!" the girl said. "This is a different Ranger!"

"I'm here to look for the Ranger that went missing," I explained. "And I heard I need your permission to enter the volcano."

"There's no need to explain yourself!" the elder said. "You've my permission to enter the cave on the left side. I only ask that you keep an eye out for my Mime. Jr. in return."

"Will do!" I replied, walking out the door. "Thank you!"

I ran toward the back of the town where I found a man standing in front of a cave. "Um, excuse me!" I said. "I need to get into that cave. The elder has given me permission."

"Oh, then come on in," the man replied. He stepped aside, allowing me passage into the volcano. "Be careful in there."

"Thank you," I said, as I ran into the cave. The first thing I noticed about the cave was how hot it was. I really should have expected that, since it was inside a volcano, but still. The second thing I noticed was all of the lava. It seemed to be impossible to cross.

Suddenly, Pachirisu ran out of the cave through another exit. "Pachirisu, where are you going?" I cried as I ran after her. The hole she ran out through lead to a little alcove that overlooked the ocean. Pretty much as soon as I stepped outside of the cave, a bunch of Drifloon flew in. After I caught a few Gastrodon, I followed the Drifloon back into the volcano. I caught one of the Drifloon, then looked around. What did Drifloon do, anyway?

I pointed my styler at it, and the screen said it could use air currents to carry me across gorges. Air currents, huh? I looked around the cave, and found a small hole that was releasing an updraft. Perfect.

The Drifloon carried Pachirisu and I across the lava, and we continued through the cave. Near the back of the cave, I found a red object lying on the ground. Barlow's styler.

I picked the styler up off the ground and examined it. It didn't seem to be badly damaged, but the anchor chip was missing. And so was Barlow. I had to find him!

We ran into the next section of the cave, where we found two Dim Sun goons walking across a natural bridge. Wait, what? Why were they here?

"What a nightmare last night was!" One of the Dim Suns said. "It was brutal trying to subdue the Ranger, the way he fought!" Barlow? What did they do to him? "It took eight of us to bind him with ropes a smidgen on the tight side." A smidgen on the tight side… is that just how it worked in the Almia Region? Can't they tie up people normally? "Pokemon Ranger my foot! They should call him a Pokemon Wrestler!" I snickered. Yep, definitely Barlow!

"Sure enough, sure enough," The other guy said. "I kind of goofed up, though. I grabbed that guy's styler off him, but I think I dropped it somewhere." Yeah, you did. "I had it switched off so it shouldn't be a problem, but still…"

"Hi!" I said, walking up to the bridge.

The guys turned to me in shock. "A kid?" One of them exclaimed.

"No, look again!" The other guy said. "It's a Ranger! This is bad, let's beat it!"

Wow, they were running already? Usually I had to destroy a Miniremo or two before they ran. Oh well. Maybe next time.

I continued down the path and arrived at a natural staircase formed by the rocks. I climbed up it to find one of the Dim Sun goons from earlier waiting for me.

"Hey!" he said. "You know we're Team Dim Sun, and we can make Pokemon do as we command!"

"If I know this, why are you telling me?" I asked.

"Well, I thought some explanation was needed before the demonstration!" The guy replied. He pulled out a Miniremo, and tapped a few keys. See, this is what I was expecting earlier!

The minion sent a Magcargo and a Slugma on me and I captured them easily, causing the Miniremo to explode. The Pokemon ran away, followed by the minion. Wow, that was cold! Most of the minions said something to me before running! Oh, well. I guess not all minions are perfect.

I followed him into the next section of the cave. Surprisingly, there wasn't a Dim Sun waiting to ambush me. I ran through the cave until I was stopped by a minion running up to me.

"You're gonna regret getting into this!" He shouted. "You're in way over your head!"

I readied my styler, smirking. "I think it's going to be the other way around!" I said. The guy grumbled something, then pulled out a Miniremo. He tapped a few keys and a Kangaskhan appeared out of nowhere. It was a little bit more annoying than the fire types from earlier, but I still managed. The Miniremo exploded as the Kangaskhan ran away.

"Ah! I shouldn't have done that!" he said. Really, you think? You just lost a perfectly good Miniremo! "I didn't think I would be doing the regretting part…" I did. This man also ran away. I followed him to find the two minions standing on another bridge.

"That's why we have a fallback plan!" One of the guys said, stepping forward. What? Did I miss something? That came out of nowhere. "I'll set off the dynamite we set earlier… Now!"

"Dynamite?" I murmured. "That's not good…"

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and a giant rock fell from the ceiling, pushing me backwards. The rock landed in front of the passage to the exit. I sighed.

"Great, great, that's just perfect," one of the guys said.

"Is it really perfect?" I asked. "Because it looks like you trapped yourselves as well."

The guys stared at me, confused. They then glanced at each other, and ran over to the giant rock.

"Ah, no!" the other guy said. "We were supposed to blow up the charge when we're in the other side of the tunnel! How are we supposed to get back to the hidden harbor now, you nincompoop!"

Nincompoop? Really? They needed better insults too.

"Did you actually call me a nincompoop?" The other guy retaliated. Good, at least that wasn't normal. "Well, Flash, you're not so smart yourself! You just blabbed to the Ranger about our Hidden Harbor!" Yep, and thanks for that! "We had to keep it hidden so we can ship out the abducted Pokemon!"

"Oh, good job blabbing that!" The guys said at the same time. "We're giving away all our hints!"

I laughed. These guys were idiots. But anyway, I needed to get to this secret harbor. I pointed my styler at the rock, and the screen said I could destroy it with crush. I ran to the back of the cave where I found a small opening. Inside I found a giant purple pokemon. A Muk. Perfect. I captured the Muk and led it to the rock.

"Okay, Muk," I said. "destroy that rock!"

Muk let out its cry and attacked the rock. It was reduced to rubble, and Muk ran back to the cave.

"I knew you could do it, Ranger!" one of the minions said. Oh right, they were still there. "Well, we'll be on our way!"

They ran under the bridge and through the door in the back of the cave. "You're welcome!" I called as they ran away. I sighed, then followed them through the door. I didn't get very far, however, since the minions shoved me back through the door.

"Hey!" I protested, since they were now blocking the exit.

The minions laughed. "I forgot all about you helping us!" one of them said. "I've got a brand new Miniremo here to show you who's boss!"

Just great. Can you just let me into the harbor? Was it really that hard?

The guy pushed some buttons on the Miniremo, and three Numel came out of nowhere and attacked me. I sighed. This was really getting annoying. They weren't really hard to capture, but I was getting really sick of this! I was there to look for Barlow, not capture a bunch of random Pokemon!

The new Miniremo exploded and the Pokemon ran away. "Can I get through now?" I asked. "Or do you have another one?" The guys didn't reply. I laughed.

"It doesn't matter if you sneak through!" one of the minions said. It's not really sneaking if you let me through… "Our keen eyed guards will just kick you out!"

The two minions ran through the door. I followed them into the hidden harbor.

The harbor was actually really pretty. The dirt ground and the shimmering water really complimented the giant freight boxes.

Across the water, an Admin was leading pokemon onto the cargo ship using a Miniremo. The Pokemon were followed by four Dim Suns carrying Barlow, who was tied up. The guys carrying Barlow stopped in front of the admin.

"You rotten bunch of crooks!" Barlow shouted. "You're messing with me: Barlow! You're not getting away with trussing me up a smidgen on the tight side!"

"Quit shouting in my ears!" The four guys carrying Barlow shouted. "You're cargo! Be quiet all ready!" The guys carried Barlow onto the ship. I had to help him! Everyone was so worried about him!

I started to run around the water, but once again the admin caught my attention. He had put away the Miniremo, and was now standing in front of four minions.

"Loading completed!" the admin said. "We'll launch the cargo ship in two minutes! Guards, keep close watch!" Two minutes? There wasn't much time left! I had to hurry!

"Aye, aye, sir!" the minions said. "Okay, to review, what's the procedure if an intruder is spotted? If it's a big one, truss 'em up! If it's a little one, kick 'em out!"

The four minions left the admin and walked to their stations. Oh great. Now I had to get past them, too. Luckily, each of the four guys seemed to have a specific route he took. So once I figured out their patterns, I was able to sneak past them easily and quickly.

I tried to run onto the cargo ship, but someone shoved me back into the harbor. I looked up from the ground to find the two minions from earlier. They ran up to me as I stood up.

"Don't get cocky!" one of them said. "And don't get on that ship!"

"Why can't I get on?" I asked, my voice sad. "Don't you like me?"

"Well…" the other guy started. The first guy elbowed him.

"The cargo ship is leaving for a secret destination!" he said. "And there are no Rangers allowed in this location! So we'll just knock you out here so you can't follow us!"

This time both of the minions pulled out a Miniremo. Pretty soon, two Beedrill and a Gloom ran out of the ship and attacked me. I pulled out my styler, and started the capture.

I decided to capture the Beedrill first. Once they were out of the way, I captured the Gloom. As soon as the Gloom was engulfed by a golden light, all three Pokemon ran away. Both Miniremos exploded.

The guys turned to each other. "We reported that a real Ranger was on the loose…" the first guy said.

"But they brushed us off, saying you were just a kid…" the other finished. "This is what we get now."

"Well, technically I am just a kid," I replied. "but I'm still a Ranger! Now let me on that ship!"

Neither of the minions moved. Suddenly, a bell rang. "Ahem!" A voice called through a loudspeaker. That voice… who did that voice belong to? "This is your captain speaking!" It was distorted through the speaker, and yet it sounded so familiar. "This cargo ship will now depart for our hideout!" I did not know who this voice belonged to, but I did not like him. "All crews report to your stations!" Uh oh. It looked like I was out of time! I ran directly in between the two minions and headed into the giant cargo ship.

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**The next chapter was soooooo much fun to write. Mainly because it has the first real villain that shows up in the game. I _love _writing villains! **

**I hope you all enjoyed!**


	16. Cargo Ship Break in!

**So let it be said I had way too much fun with this chapter. Just saying**

**Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!**

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The first thing I noticed about the cargo ship was how purple it was. The floors, the walls, and even the cargo crates were a medium shade of purple. Not that I was complaining, it was actually a nice color. I was just glad it wasn't green, or yellow, or some other hideous color like that.

The second thing I noticed was the fact that two minions were arguing over… something. I hid behind one of the crates so I could listen in on their conversation without getting spotted.

"This is the kingston valve?" one of the minions said. "It looks like a gigantic drain plug if you ask me. Not a valve." I had to agree with him on that one. The kingston valve was just a giant metal thing on the floor. It wasn't really that impressive.

"Well, that's what it is," the other minion replied. "A giant plug. You yank that out, seawater will flood the ship, and down she goes. If that plug comes out, it'd be almost impossible to put back into place. You'd need Machoke level strength to muscle it back down." Why would a ship even have something like that? I didn't think sinking a giant ship would be a good plan! Was the captain so temperamental he added it so one day he could just say, 'Oh, I had a bad day! Remove the valve and kill everyone'?

I waited for the minions to run away before continuing through the ship. I could barely tell the ship was actually moving. I it felt like it was completely stationary. Probably because of its size… this ship was huge!

It wasn't hard to navigate my way through the ship, especially with Pachirisu by my side. She had a really good sense of direction! I tried my best to avoid the Dim Sun people. I couldn't let them know they had a stowaway!

Due to the size of the ship, it took a really long time to get through it. Eventually, I wandered into a dark room. I scanned the walls, looking for a light switch. Before I could find one, however, someone started yelling at me.

"Who's there?!" The guy demanded. Barlow! "Some knucklehead of a Dim Sun? Or would that be a Dim Sun goon? It's too dark to tell you apart!"

Finally, I found the light switch! It was on the right hand side of the door I came in through. "I'm gonna go with none of the above," I said, smiling as I flipped the switch.

Barlow stared at me in shock. "Sparkette?" He exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I never thought I would have to say this," I said, "but I'm here to rescue you, Barlow. Crawford sent me."

Barlow laughed. "I never thought I would hear that, honestly!" he said. "I wish you never saw me this way, though. Being roped up a smidgen tightly… Ollie put up with it without a peep. Tough guy."

"Well, let's get you out of those ropes, then!" I said. I walked over to Barlow, and fiddled with the ropes. Nothing. They were even tighter than when Barlow tied up Ollie.

"I don't think that's going to help, Sparkette," Barlow said. "If anyone can untie this rope, I'd say it's Big Bertha and no one else."

"Well, I'm all you've got," I said. "Are there any other ways to break the rope?"

"I'm guessing a Pokemon should be able to break it," Barlow replied. "Look around the floor some more, you might find something."

"Okay!" I said, cheerfully. "I'll be right back!"

I ran out of the room and across the hallway. I entered the first door on my left to find a Dim Sun minion waiting for me. Oh well. So much for not getting caught.

"You stealthy scoundrel, you!" he shouted. I don't know how walking into a room was stealthy, but oh well. "I won't allow you to abscond with the Pokemon we rounded up!"

The minion pulled out a Miniremo and hit a few keys. Three Mareep came from nowhere and charged at me. I pulled out my styler and captured them easily. The Mareep ran away and the Miniremo exploded.

"Oh, now you've gone and done it!" the minion said. "Now I'm in for a dressing down from Captain."

The man shoved me aside and ran out of the room. "Wait!" I called. "Who is your Captain?" I sighed. The minion was long gone by now.

I continued into the next room where I found a Raticate. That should be able to cut the ropes! I captured the Raticate then ran back to the room where Barlow was.

"Are you ready, Barlow?" I asked. Barlow nodded. "Okay! Raticate, cut up that rope!" The Pokemon nodded and used it's sharp teeth to destroy the rope that was tied around Barlow. The Raticate then ran off. It was probably going back home.

"Thanks, Sparkette," Barlow said. "Even in my wildest dreams, I never thought you would be rescuing me."

"Me neither," I replied. "I found your styler, Barlow." I handed the red devise to him. He took it gratefully.

"I can't believe I actually got this taken from me…" Barlow said, staring at his styler. "This is the symbol of a Pokemon Ranger."

"Hey, everyone's really worried about you," I said. "You should probably turn on your styler." Barlow nodded, and flipped a switch on the device. Pretty much the second he turned it on, it started beeping.

"Voicemail, Voicemal!" Crawford called through the styler. "Crawford calling from the Ranger Union! Your styler started transmitting again! Sparkette must've joined you. Both your location signals are coming in clearly. If there's any problem, inform me by voicemail, please. Leader, I'm glad you're safe!"

Barlow's styler beeped once again as Crawford hung up. Barlow sighed. "I've caused everyone a lot of worry with this…" he said. "Team Dim Sun is not getting away with this!"

"No way!" I agreed. "I'd say it's about time for Mr. Barlow's counterattack to begin! Let's bring those jerks to justice" I paused. "So, what do we do?"

Barlow laughed. "We'll have to wrest control of the ship fist," he replied. "Let's go to the ship's bridge and take command!"

"Okay!" I said. Barlow and I ran over to the door in the back of the room, only to find it locked. Brilliant.

"This calls for a Target Clear!" Barlow said, smiling.

"But I don't think any Pokemon can bre-" I started. Barlow interrupted me.

"Just stand aside," Barlow said. I nodded. I didn't know what Barlow was going to do, but I trusted him.

Barlow took a few steps back, then shouted, "Target Clear!" He charged at the door. It burst open upon impact, causing a loud crashing noise. Followed by another one. Wait… two crashes? What did Barlow do?

"Hey, Sparkette!" Barlow called from another room. "Come over here!"

I ran into the hall. The room directly across from me was wide open. I guess Barlow had trouble stopping and crashed into this room as well. The room was labeled with a small sign that said, Captain's Quarters.

I walked through the door to find what looked kind of like a bedroom. Well, it had a bed, anyway. It also had a vanity in the back corner, and racks of identical clothes. The clothes looked so familiar… who did they belong to? The last thing I noticed about the room was the smell. It smelled like scented hair care products. I felt like I was choking on the overpowering scent.

"Looks like this is the guy we're after," Barlow said. "Unusually sweet scent for a guy though…"

I didn't respond. I was staring at the outfits. Why were they so familiar? Why was this scent familiar? Why did it make me want to run away? Or actually, speed walk away?

"Sparkette, are you alright?" Barlow asked.

I nodded. "I'm fine," I replied. "It's just these outfits, they're so familiar! And this overpowering smell… ugh. Who is this Captain, anyway?"

"We'll find out soon enough," Barlow said. "Let's keep moving."

I nodded, and we ran out of the room. We continued through one last hallway, then up a giant staircase, and we were on the top deck of the ship. The first thing I noticed was how bright it was. I guess I didn't sleep all night. Oh well. I could always sleep when I got home.

Suddenly, a man with golden hair stepped out of the control center. "Well, now, look what we have here," he said, a fake smile plastered to his face. "Long time no see, Sparkette. I hope you haven't been running in the ships hallways."

"Mr. Kincaid," I growled, clenching my fists. "What are you doing here?"

"Sparkette, you know this guy?" Barlow asked.

"He was a teacher at the Ranger School," I replied, still glaring at Mr. Kincaid.

"Ah, but I was only playing at being a teacher!" Mr. Kincaid exclaimed. "My true identity is…" Mr. Kincaid suddenly spun around in a circle, ripping off his normal suit to reveal a purple and black Dim Sun uniform. It was a bit over the top, his uniform had a cape and everything! This new uniform also had a higher collar than his old clothes. How did that work?

"Team Dim Sun's guiding light! Kincaid!" He finished.

"You jerk…" I murmured as I continued to glare at Mr. Kincaid.

Mr. Kincaid laughed. "Wow, you really haven't changed at all, Sparkette!" he said. "But I must admit, I never expected you of all Rangers. Especially with the way you run in the halls and sneak around where you don't belong. You're such a little delinquint." Who were you expecting, then, Keith? "But I'm sorry to say that your journey ends here."

Mr. Kincaid laughed once again as a half a dozen minions and two admins flooded onto the deck.

"Kincaid!" Barlow exclaimed. "You knew we were coming!"

"You thought we wouldn't notice?" Mr. Kincaid demanded. I kinda hoped they wouldn't. "Minions! Take care of them!"

The two admins pulled out Miniremos. A few moments later, Barlow and I each had two Rhyhorn to capture. They weren't that hard to capture, it was really just annoying. Barlow and I finished our captures at around the same time. The Rhyhorn ran away as the Miniremos exploded.

"We're sorry, Captain!" The Dim Suns exclaimed. "We're too ashamed to face your anger, so we'll swim home!"

All eight of the Dim Suns turned to the edge of the boat, and took a running leap into the ocean. Barlow and I turned to face Mr. Kincaid, who was not even making an attempt to help the minions.

"What? You're not going to help your friends?" I said, mockingly.

Mr. Kincaid laughed. "Friends? Hardley. They're idiots and their absence will lighten the ship's load and reduce it's fuel compensation," he replied. "Besides…" he snapped his fingers, and another group of minions charged onto the deck. "There are plenty more."

"Ugh, how many of these clowns are there?" Barlow exclaimed. "It's like there's a never ending supply!"

"Barlow, I'll handle these guys," I said. "You go after Mr. Kincaid."

Barlow nodded, and ran over to the captain. I turned to the minions, my styler in hand. Once again, the two admins pulled out Miniremos. Pretty soon, I was attacked by a few Stunky.

"You're gonna get it, hairspray head!" I heard Barlow shout. I snickered. Hairspray head? I can't believe I didn't think of that! I glanced at Mr. Kincaid quickly to see a Drapion standing next to him, but then focused on the Stunky again. They smelled really bad, but I still managed to capture again, this group jumped off the side of the boat and started to swim away.

I turned back to Barlow and Kincaid to hear a small explosion. However, Mr. Kincaid's Miniremo was still intact. What had exploded?

My questions were answered a second later by Barlow being blown backward a little bit. His styler was steaming. Oh no… that Drapion broke Barlow's styler.

"Barlow!" I said, running up to him. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he replied. "But that jerk broke my styler…"

I turned to Mr. Kincaid with a look of pure hatred on my face. Mr. Kincaid simply smiled at Barlow. "You deserve kudos for your bravado, but clearly, you lack the ability."

"I'm useless…" Barlow said.

"Don't worry, Barlow," I said, taking a step closer to Mr. Kincaid. "I'll handle this."

"Oh really, Sparkette?" Mr. Kincaid said, laughing. "The Miniremo's powers are beyond even my belief. I'm not so sure a delinquent child such as yourself can handle this."

"Well, I am!" I replied, confidently. I pulled out my styler, ready to capture the Drapion.

Mr. Kincaid chuckled. "Very well," he said. "It is time for your final lesson, Sparkette. I'm just glad that I'm the one to teach it to you."

Mr. Kincaid pushed a few keys on the Miniremo, and the Drapion let out it's cry. It then charged at me, it's eyes flashing with anger. That poor pokemon… I needed to help it.

The Drapion was really annoying to capture. He didn't really give any warnings before he attacked, there were just suddenly spikes shooting at my styler. I even had to jump out of the way sometimes. The Pokemon also smelled really bad. It was almost making me miss the sweet scent of Mr. Kincaid's hairspray. But the capture was easy enough when I brought in Pachirisu. She was able to keep him still long enough for me to draw loops around him without getting any damage to my styler. In a few minutes, a pink light engulfed Drapion, and it ran away, causing Mr. Kincaid's Miniremo to explode. Mr. Kincaid didn't even seem phased by what had just happened.

"I seemed to have underestimated you, Sparkette," he said. "But no matter. It won't happen again." Smirking, he pulled a microphone out of his pocket.

"To all crew members!" he shouted through the microphone. "This is your captain speaking! I'm having a bad day! Remove the Kingston valve! Abandon ship if you wish to live," He pushed a button on the microphone and the transmission ended.

"Mr. Kincaid, are you insane?" I shouted.

"By taking down this ship, I dispose of all evidence," Mr. Kincaid replied calmly. "As a bonus, I take you down to a watery grave.

"Removing the Kingston Valve wouldn't only kill me!" I said, stepping closer to the evil teacher. "You would go down with the ship as well."

Mr. Kincaid chuckled. "Oh, Sparkette. How naive. Do you really think I would do this if I didn't have an escape plan?"

Mr. Kincaid pulled out another Miniremo and a Gliscor flew down from the sky. It charged at me, shoving me back a few feet. "Can't you see, Sparkette? You've lost. It's all over," he said as the Gliscor flew back to him. I struggled to get to my feet, still glaring at him. "You, your Ranger friend, and all of the Pokemon will have this ship as their final resting place." He grabbed the Gliscor's tail. "Bon voyage, Sparkette!" he called as the Gliscor flew away, taking Mr. Kincaid with him.

Barlow ran over to me. "Sparkette, are you alright?" He asked. I nodded, slowly getting to my feet. "Good. We need to find a place to dock this thing!"

"Okay," I replied, still a little shocked by what had just happened. Sure, Mr. Kincaid was a jerk, but I never expected him to be evil! Barlow and I ran into the control room of the ship. I stared at the room blankly. I had no idea how any of these machines worked. "Uh, Barlow?" I said. "Do you know how to work this thing?"

"Sort of," Barlow replied. "I've never handled a ship this size before, though." He glanced at a monitor of some kind. "This is bad, though. We're taking on water fast. The closest port is in Pueltown, but I don't think we can stay afloat long enough."

"So what should we do?" I asked. "There's gotta be some place we can land this thing."

"We should get in touch with Crawford," Barlow replied. "Since my styler is out of commission, we'll need to use the ship's radio."

I was about to remind him that I had a styler as well, but Barlow was already on the other side of the room, fiddling around with some controls.

"Crawford, come in!" he said into a microphone. "This is Barlow! And Sparkette is here, too! Do you read me?"

"Loud and clear, guys!" Crawford replied. "What's up?"

"We've taken command of Team Dim Sun's cargo ship!" I replied, running over to stand next to Barlow.

"But the ship is sinking!" Barlow continued. "I'm not sure if we'll be able to make it to Pueltown. In other words, this radio message may be our final words."

"Barlow, don't talk like that!" I exclaimed, paffing my maroon haired leader. "We're going to get out of this!"

"Um, are you two joking around with me?" Crawford called through the ship's radio. "Cause if this is a joke then it's the worst!"

"Crawford!" I shouted. Barlow shrunk back from me. "This is no joke! The ship is sinking, and we need your help! Do you see anyplace on your radar where it would be possible to dock this thing?"

"The best I can think of is trying to find some shallows and beach the ship!" Crawford replied. "If you can't do that in time, abandon the ship and save yourselves!"

"And leave all the pokemon here to die?" I demanded. "I don't think so!" I ran back toward the entrance of the control room.

"Sparkette, where are you going?" Barlow called.

"I'm going to try to plug the Kingston Valve!" I replied, turning to face him. "Maybe if we can stop the ship from taking on more water, we can find a place to beach this boat!"

Barlow opened his mouth to say something, but Crawford beat him to it. "You'd better hurry!" he exclaimed. "Good luck, Sparkette!"

I ran out of the room as fast as I could, with Pachirisu right behind me. I was surprised she didn't want to stay in the control center, but I was grateful for the company.

I ran through the ship, nearly running into a few Dim Sun minions on the way. The water at my feet got deeper and deeper as I got lower and lower. I was glad there were freight boxes for me to run on so I didn't have to swim. On the way, I remembered something a few of the minions were talking about. You needed Machoke level strength in order to move the valve. Since I was pretty sure the only human who would be able to move it was Big Bertha, I decided to capture a Machoke.

I lead the Machoke to the front of the ship. Luckily, the Kingston Valve was sitting on top of one of the freight boxes instead of under the water. I had the Machoke punch the valve back into place, and the water level stopped rising. Perfect! It actually worked!

A few moments after the valve was closed once again, my styler started beeping. "Voicemail, voicemail!" Barlow's voice called through the styler. "Good job, Sparkette! The ship isn't taking on water anymore. I'm gonna try to find a place to dock this ship!"

"Okay!" I replied. My styler beeped once again. Barlow had hung up. I sat down on the edge of the freight box, waiting for Barlow to beach the ship. It shouldn't be too hard, right? Then again, I knew nothing about ships.

Suddenly, the ship made a very hard turn. I was flung into the water that was filling the bottom of the ship. My head popped up above the surface. Pachirisu had somehow managed to stay on top of the crate.

I climbed back onto the crate, only to be knocked off it again when the ship crashed into something. The crash caused a hole to appear in the side of the ship. The water drained out until I was lying on the floor of the ship.

"Ow…" I complained. "A little warning could've been nice, Barlow!"

Pachirisu hopped off the crate and into my arms. I caught her, and we walked off the ship to find Crawford, Luana, Ms. April and Principal Lamont waiting for me. Wait, Ms. April and Principal Lamont? Where was I? I turned my head to find the giant Pledge Stone. Barlow had rammed the ship into the school pier, effectively destroying it.

"Sparkette!" Luana exclaimed. "Thank goodness you're safe!"

"It seems the pier was inefficient for the role…" Principal Lamont said, sighing. "What exactly is going on here?"

"This cargo ship was being controlled by Team Dim Sun!" Crawford replied. "They were using it to abduct Pokemon and transport their Gigaremo machines!"

"Barlow and Sparkette discovered what the ship was being used for," Luana continued. "However, when defeated, Team Dim Sun fled. But they also tried to scuttle the ship with the Pokemon still on board."

"Correction," I interjected. "Mr. Kincaid tried to scuttle the ship with the Pokemon still on it, simply because I defeated him."

"Mr. Kincaid?" Ms. April exclaimed. "What are you talking about, Sparkette?"

"Mr. Kincaid was in control of the ship," I replied. "It was his idiotic decisions that caused us to destroy your pier… sorry about that, by the way."

"It's fine, Sparkette!" Principal Lamont said cheerfully. "I'm happy to see you were successful at ramming the pier!" I smiled at him. I've always liked Principal Lamont.

"The pier is of no concern," Ms. April said. "It was nice to witness the outstanding courage of two graduates. It's another example of model behavior we can present to our students."

"Sparkette, where's Barlow?" Crawford asked, walking up to me.

"He can't be…" Ms. April started.

"That was a rough crash…" Principal Lamont said. Yeah, I knew that already! I was on the ship!

"Stop that!" Luana exclaimed. "Our Leader isn't that fragile!"

"Hey, Sparkette!" We turned in shock to see Barlow standing on top of the roof of the control room. "Mission Clear!"

I laughed. Of course he was on the roof. Where else would he be? Luana smiled as well. "Told ya!" she said, giggling.

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**So the next update is going to be really soon. Maybe even tomorrow morning. Because Keith comes back in the next chapter and I cannot wait anymore I'm dying. **

**So anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Leave a review if you did!**


	17. Character Profiles: Vientown

**Hahahah I'm going to be mean and not post the real chapter until tonight! Since Sparkette's days in Vientown are coming to a close, I thought this was the perfect time to do updated character profiles. Unfortunatly these will not inclue Keith and Rhythmi. Sorry. **

**I also have wayyyyy too much free time cause I'm not doing anything today, so... yeah. Anyway, enjoy!**

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Sparkette(14): Vientown's prized rookie Ranger. Very crazy and stubborn. Stands up for what she believes is right. If she believes it's nessesary, she is not afraid to go against orders. Has questioned Barlow's choices before. Partner Pokemon is Pachirisu. Her best friends are still Keith and Rhythmi, even though they are away in Fiore. Friends are Crawford, Luana, Elaine, Murph, and Ollie. Is warming up to Isaac more, is impressed that he works at Altru Inc. Still hates Mr. Kincaid. Really misses Keith, and hopes that she will get to see him again.

Crawford(17): Vientown's resident joker. Is still a very good Ranger, although he's not always serious about his job. Is the oldest of the Vientown Rangers, other than Barlow. Is second in command, and can take charge when he needs to. Best friends with Luana, and friends with Sparkette and Elaine. Has an explotion of an afro for hair.

Luana(16): Graduated Ranger School the year before Sparkette. She isn't used to dangerous missions yet, because nothing really happened before Team Dim Sun came in. Is known burn toast on a daily basis. Nobody trusts her near the toaster anymore. Best friend is Crawford, friends are Elaine and Sparkette.

Elaine(18): Vientown's mechanic. Only problem is, she prefers destroying things over building them. Has a very large collection of power tools. She's usually alone in the base, since all of the Rangers are out patrolling, so she invites Ollie over sometimes. They are becoming close friends. She is also friends with Crawford, Luana, and Sparkette.

Ollie(19): Lives in Chicole Village. Was responsible for the Forest fire, but nobody cares about that anymore. Hangs around the Ranger Base with Elaine a lot. Seems to be close friends with her. Also friends with the rest of the Rangers, including Sparkette, Crawford, and Luana. Probably would be friends with Keith if they ever met.

Barlow(26): The leader at Vientown's base. Can make desitions without thinking about them too much. But when Barlow makes a desision, you follow it. Gets mad at Sparkette often, because she hates following rules.

Isaac(14): A young scientist who graduated Ranger School with Sparkette. Works at Altru Inc. Not much is known about what he does for them, but it sounds impressive. Probably has some friends at the office, but not much is known about them. Considers himself to be friends with Sparkette, and really enjoyed being able to give her a tour of Altru Inc.

Mr. Kincaid(mid thirties): Used to work at the Ranger School. In reality, he is a member of Team Dim Sun. Still hates Sparkette with a passion. Has tried to kill her, and probably believes she is dead now. Still has his no running in the hallways rules. Uses way too much hairspray every day.

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**So there you have it. Next chapter will be posted tonight. I promise. It will be pretty late, but it should be there before tomorrow. (depending on when I get back from my vacation things.) **

**So look forward to that!**


	18. The new Top Rangers

"Ahem. As the leader of this base, I'd like to say a few words to end this send-off party. I always knew this day was coming. You're not the sort to start and finish as a Ranger in the sticks like this. When I handed you your styler, I already had that feeling. But I never expected this day to arrive so soon…"

The Ranger Base was decked out with decorations in all shapes and sizes. All of them were a light shade of blue, my favorite color. There was a large banner hanging over the door that read, "Congratulations, Sparkette!" Starting today I was going to be a Top Ranger.

"Well, we can laugh or cry about it, but from today Sparkette is going to be a Top Ranger," Barlow said. "It makes me sad to see her leave us for the Ranger Union. But, as the Leader here it also fills me with pride!"

"Hey, this is no time to be sad!" Luana said. "Sparkette's going to be a Top Ranger! We should be celebrating!"

"Ya know, Chairperson Erma of the Ranger Union came to our Leader and asked for you in person!" Crawford said. "She said you were absolutely needed by the Union, Sparkette."

"Really?" I said. "Why did they pick me, though? Aren't there more qualified Rangers?"

"Absolutely not!" Luana said. "You've been in the papers at least three times! Including today's, by the way!"

Luana handed me the latest issue of Almia Times. Ya know, I was thinking about subscribing to the paper, but people seem to hand it to me anyway so there was really no point. Anyway, the headline of the paper was Ranger to the Rescue! It was basically an entire newspaper about what had happened at the cargo ship a few days ago. I don't know why it was all about me, Barlow had been there too. It had pictures of me doing my Ranger Pose for the kids at the school, the broken cargo ship, and a blurry image of Mr. Kincaid. On the bottom of the page there was a picture of Chairperson Erma and an article on how I became the eleventh Top Ranger. Once I had scanned the front page of the paper, I handed it back to Luana.

"Congratulations, Sparkette!" Elaine said. "It's a shame to see you go, though. When you joined, our team became a really decent one… I'm gonna miss you."

"I'm going to miss you guys too!" I replied. "And you guys were already a great team. You don't need me!"

"By the way, Sparkette," Ollie said, his eyes watery. "My mom wanted me to tell you she said congratulations as well."

"Come on, who's crying on a day like this?" Barlow demanded. Honestly, you. "I don't care what anyone says, this is a great cause for celebration! Come on, we'll have one last toast with another glass of milk!"

Everyone groaned. Another toast? That was the ninth toast he had made this morning!

Big Bertha sighed. "That Barlow…" she said. "But eat up! Eat up! There's plenty of milk pudding to go around!"

I smiled. All of us were so stuffed from Big Bertha's amazing milk pudding there was no way we could possibly eat any more. Even Pachirisu was stuffed!

"Thank you all so much for everything!" I said. "I'm going to miss you guys!"

"We'll miss you too Sparkette," Crawford said.

"You'd better get going," Luana said. "You know how impatient Professor Hastings is." I nodded.

"Goodbye!" I said, as I walked over to the door. "I'll try to come and visit you guys sometime!"

"Goodbye, Sparkette," Barlow said. "I enjoyed every minute of it."

I ran out of the base with one last smile. When I got outside, I found my mom, Lily, and Ms. April waiting for me.

"Mom? Lily? Ms. April?" I asked. I think I sounded the most shocked on the last name. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We wanted to come and see you before you left!" Mom replied. "You're going to be a Top Ranger! It's exciting!"

Lily started to run around me in circles, laughing. "My big sister is a Top Ranger!" she said. "It's so awesome!"

I laughed as well as Ms. April walked up to me. "Sparkette, congratulations!" Ms. April said. Lily was running around her as well now.

"Thanks, Ms. April," I replied. "It means a lot that you would come out here to see me."

"Well, you were one of my best students!" Ms. April said. "And you were even slightly better behaved than Keith!"

"Slightly?" I said, laughing. "That hurt, Ms. April!"

Ms. April laughed. "I'm just kidding. You were an amazing student and are an amazing person. Mr. Kincaid is crazy to not like you." Nobody said anything for a while. Mr. Kincaid was still a touchy subject, even though it had been almost a week since the incident at the cargo ship. "By the way, since I'm here I might as well tell you all of the Pokemon were returned to Boyleland safely. All of the students helped with that effort."

I smiled. "That's good to hear!" I said. "I'm glad the Pokemon were returned safely! Thank you for coming to see me, everyone! Sorry I can't stay longer!"

"We understand, Sparkette," Mom said. "Good luck!"

"Thank you!" I called as I ran toward the forest. I ran down the familiar paths of the Vien Forest, but stopped on Lookout Ridge. Altru Tower was much taller now. It was actually starting to look like a real tower. The color bothered me though, and I didn't know why. The tower was a lovely shade of purple.

"Hey there, lucky gal!"

What?

Suddenly, a Staraptor flew over my head, then landed next to me. Wendy, the green haired Top Ranger was riding it.

"Wendy?" I said. She smiled. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to pick you up, of course!" she replied. "It took me a while to find you, though! I'm glad you remember me!"

"Of course I do!" I said. "It's great to see you again, Wendy!"

"Good to see you too, Sparkette!" Wendy said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Um… sure?" I said. "But what do you mean by pick me up?"

Wendy was already in the sky again. About a second later, she swooped down again. This time, her Staraptor grabbed my shoulders and carried me into the sky as well. Pachirisu was lucky, she got to ride on the Staraptor with Wendy.

"Hold on, Sparkette!" Wendy called.

Flying was amazing. The wind in my hair, and just the entire sensation was great. The trip was over way too soon, and soon Wendy had deposited me in front of the Ranger Union where a familiar face was waiting for me.

"Sparkette!" Murph said. "You dropped in on me from the sky! That's a dramatic entry!" Wendy landed next to me and handed me Pachirisu.

"Thanks, Wendy. Hi, Murph!" I said. "It's good to see you again!"

"Oh, by the way, congratulations on becoming a Top Ranger!" Murph said. "But let's not chat out here. Let's get you inside!"

* * *

_Effective immediately, the Ranger Union certifies you to the position of Top Ranger. You are hereby recognized as the eleventh and one of only twelve chosen Top Rangers around the world. The peace of the Almia region is under growing threat. We must have your help._

My head was in a jumble. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. I was really a Top Ranger. It seemed great back home, but now it was just scary. I was barely concentrating on anything, it was amazing I even managed to pay attention to what the chairperson was saying.

"Vientown's Ranger Base and the Ranger Union share the same goal," Chairperson Erma said. "That goal is to maintain peace in the Almia Region."

Erma looked like she was going to say more, but suddenly the doors burst open behind me. "Sorry I'm late!" A male voice exclaimed. Who was that? Why was it bothering me so much? The boy who had walked in came to stand next to me. I didn't even glance at him. I was too nervous to move.

"Welcome to the twelfth Top Ranger," Chairperson Erma said. "Your arrivals mean that of the twelve Top Rangers, four of them are based in Almia."

"Incidentally, haven't you two noticed?" Professor Hastings said. "I suppose it's understandable from being so nervous, but…"

"You should both seem very familiar to each other, dears," Chairperson Erma said.

"What do you…" I turned to face the boy next to me. He had spiky brown hair, and his Partner Pokemon was a Buizel.

"Keith…" I said, smiling. "Hi." He grinned at me.

"Hey, Sparkette!" he said. "What's up?"

I laughed. "I haven't seen you in forever, and all I get is a 'What's up?'" I said. "You haven't changed at all, Keith."

"Sorry," he said, also laughing now. "Guess I'm just nervous. I've really missed you, Sparkette. It's great to see you again."

"I missed you too, Keith," I replied.

"Sorry to interrupt," Professor Hastings said. "but we need to get to work. The Almia Region needs your help to punish this so called Team Dim Sun. That is why you've both been promoted to Top Ranger. It's a major promotion, born from an inspiration shared by Erma and me. If things don't work out, it will be solely our responsibility to bear. You two are free to do as you wish without restraint."

"Sweet," Keith said. I elbowed him. Wow, it really felt like we were back in school. Five minutes in, and Keith had already said something stupid.

Professor Hastings chuckled. "I present you with the symbol of the Top Ranger, the Fine Styler!" He handed a new styler to both Keith and me. It was completely different from our old stylers. The fine styler attaches onto your arm, so it was a lot harder to lose it. It still worked the same way though with a few extra features. It also looked kinda cool.

"Sparkette, let me help you with that," Keith said, when he realised I was having trouble putting the styler on. He strapped it around my right arm, then smiled. "There. Perfect," he said. It really was…

"So how is the fine styler different?" Keith asked, turning back to Professor Hastings.

"The fine styler can charge up power for making captures more easily," Professor Hastings explained. "We've very cleverly named this feature power charge." Yeah, clever. "All you need to do is hold the capture disk in place for a while, and when it starts glowing it's power will be doubled, and you will be able to befriend the target Pokemon more easily."

"That's enough orientation," Erma said. "Keith, I know why you were late getting here. On the way here, you stopped to save some Pokemon that were controlled by Team Dim Sun. Townspeople who saw this were delighted and phoned in their thanks. That's what is expected of the Pokemon Rangers." Keith smiled, and so did I. I thought it was great Keith did that. "Well, everyone. Let's return to our jobs!"

"The two newcomers should come and meet us in the Operation Room later," Professor Hastings said. "They're no hurry, though, so don't worry."

Woah, did Professor Hastings just say there was no hurry? That was a first. Professor Hastings, Chairperson Erma, Murph, and Wendy walked out of the room leaving Keith and I alone.

Keith laughed. "No hurry, huh? We should probably get there as soon as possible," he said.

I nodded. "Pretty much," I replied. Keith and I started to walk out of the room. "So, how was Fiore?"

"Oh, it was great!" Keith replied. "But I think you should be the one telling stories here! I read all of those newspapers, you've been pretty busy!"

I laughed. "Well, yeah," I said. "I guess a lot has been happening recently. Did you see the article from today?"

Keith shook his head. "Not yet," he said.

"Good," I said. "Cause that's something I need to tell you about personally."

"Hey, before you do, can I ask you something?" Keith said. I nodded. "Is that the same Pachirisu from our one-day internship?"

I nodded. "We ran into each other during my first mission," I replied. "Apparently she waited for me to become an official Ranger so she could be my Partner Pokemon."

"Wow," Keith said. "I met Buizel here back in Fiore." He didn't say anything after that.

"What, no story?" I asked.

Keith laughed feebly. "Yeah… I don't think I really want to tell you about that."

"Okay, I don't want to know anymore," I said. Keith laughed.

"So? What did you need to tell me about?" Keith asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, but I then realised we were already on the escalator that lead to the Operation Room.

"I'll tell you later," I replied. "We should probably get in there."

"Okay," Keith said, sounding slightly disappointed. "Let's go."

We rode up the escalator together and walked up to Erma. "Hello," she said. "I'd like to introduce you to our Operators. They could be considered as Top Operators, actually. They do tend to chatter too much, though. Okay, people! Let's not be rude. Introduce yourselves to our new faces!"

A female, blue haired Operator stepped forward. "Hi!" she said. "I'm Linda. Nice to meet you. I don't think I'm really chatty, but I'm sure not the silent type."

"You are chatty, Linda," a male Operator said, also stepping forward. He sighed. "and I usually get in trouble for it." Linda laughed feebly. "I'm Marcus. Nice to meet you."

The third Operator stepped forward. She was a pretty blonde girl with dazzling blue eyes. "Hi, my name is Rhythmi." she said.

Wait, Rhythmi? "I think we know who you are already, Rhythmi," I said, smiling at my old friend.

"Sparkette? Keith?" Rhythmi exclaimed. "What are you two doing here?"

Chairperson Erma giggled. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you, but you three being here in no coincidence," she said. "We were informed about your trio by Ms. April of the Ranger School. You pledged to make your dreams come to in Ascension Square." Wait, Ms. April saw that? Did that mean she saw Keith and I climb up the Pledge Stone? Oops… "The fact that all three of you have held onto those dreams brought you here." Keith and I smiled at Rhythmi. She returned the smile before going back to her seat in front of the giant monitor with the rest of the Operators.

"There's one last thing," Chairperson Erma said. "Top Rangers are allowed to assign missions to themselves. Rely on your experience, believe in your instincts, and know who you are helping. You are responsible for your own actions. Top Rangers do not answer to a leader. Of course, don't hesitate to approach your seniors for advice."

Suddenly the giant computer in front of us started beeping. "Speaking of seniors, Sven is sending a transmission!" Linda said. She pushed a button on the keyboard. "Sven? You're in the Chroma Highlands? Confirm, please."

"That's right," a male voice replied. I was guessing the voice belonged to Sven. "Is that Linda I hear? There's something I want passed onto Chairperson Erma. This place is crawling with Dim Sun minions. They're slowing me down. I'd like Erma to send a young Ranger or two to help clear the vermin."

"Understood!" Linda said. She got up from her position and walked over to us. "Chairperson Erma! You heard Sven!"

"A young Ranger or two, did he say?" Erma said. "Then two he shall have! Sparkette and Keith, this is a good opportunity for you to go and meet Sven. You two are to join Sven in the field. This is a Mission from me. Perhaps you'll find it less than challenging for Top Rangers to do."

Keith and I nodded. "Got it," I said. "We'll head over there right away!" We started to run out of the room, but Rhythmi stopped us.

"Do you two know how to get to the Chroma Highlands?" she asked. Keith and I exchanged glances, then shook our heads. Rhythmi laughed. "Sparkette, you know where the park is, right?" I nodded. "Just go east from there. It's pretty straightforward, so I wouldn't worry too much."

"Thanks, Rhythmi!" I said. "We'll see you later."

"See ya!" Keith called as we ran down the two escalators and onto the ground floor of the Union. Keith almost fell over when we got to the bottom. I laughed.

"Don't. Say. Anything," he said.

"Okay," I replied, running out of the Ranger Union. "Guess I won't tell you my story, then!"

Keith ran after me. "You know what I meant!" he exclaimed. "Come on, Sparkette! Please tell me!"

"Are you sure?" I asked. "I kind of almost die."

Keith stopped short. "What?" he said, his eyes wide. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"Okay, so it all started when Barlow went missing," I said. Keith and I were still standing outside of the Union. "I was sent to the Boyle Volcano to investigate. I found a secret harbor in the volcano where Team Dim Sun was hiding their cargo ship. I snuck on, rescued Barlow, defeated Mr. Kincaid, then he tried to kill me. But don't worry, I didn't get hurt."

"Wait, Mr. Kincaid?" Keith said. "That old git?" I nodded. "What was he doing on Team Dim Sun's cargo ship? And what did he do to you?"

"He's apparently part of the team," I replied. "he said he was their guiding light or something like that."

"And what did he do to you?" Keith demanded. Wow, he was a lot more worried than I thought he would be.

"He tried to sink the cargo ship, with me still on it," I replied. "But Barlow and I managed to beach the ship, destroy the school's pier, and rescue all of the Pokemon all at the same time! It was awesome!"

"How is you almost drowning awesome?" Keith said.

"Well, I didn't drown!" I replied. "So it's all good. Do you have any interesting stories from Fiore?"

"No, we can't just end that there!" Keith said. "Are you sure you're alright? That jerk didn't hurt you at all?"

"Keith, don't worry," I replied. "I'm fine. Mr. Kincaid didn't hurt me."

"That stupid jerk," Keith murmured. "If I ever see that guy again I'd… I'd… well, I don't know what I would do but it would not be pretty!"

"Keith, calm down," I said. "I hate Mr. Kincaid as much as you do, but it's really not that big of a deal."

"Sparkette, when I found out I was coming back to Almia I was so happy, because I knew it might give me the chance to see you again," Keith said. "I didn't want to come here just to find out you almost died."

"Well, I didn't," I said. "So stop worrying." Neither of us said anything for a while. "We'd better hurry up, Sven's probably waiting for us." Keith nodded, and we continued on in silence.

* * *

**Yeah I totally don't have anything to say on this chapter. I'm on vacation. I don't think.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Review if you did! Next update will hopefully be tomorrow!**


	19. Chroma Valley

**Hi, guys. So, sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been really busy with vacation stuff. But I'm on my way home now and should be able to post regularly.**

**I don't own Pokemon**

**Also fyi, this is the longest chapter so far! **

**Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

* * *

Keith didn't say anything the rest of the way to the Chroma Highlands. Was he mad at me or something? What did I do? He asked me to tell him the story, so I did! It really wasn't that big of a deal! I was completely fine! That happened like a week ago! Why was he so worried?

"This must be the Chroma Highlands," Keith said. "It looks like this is a far east as we can go, anyway." Keith was right. There was no way we could go any further. At least, I think there wasn't. The highlands were covered in a thick black fog.

"But what's up with this crazy fog?" I asked. "I can't see anything!"

"This is ridiculous!" Keith replied. "How are we supposed to find Sven in this?"

"We'll have to find a way to clear the fog," I said.

Suddenly, Keith gasped. "Sparkette, look at that!" He pointed at something through the fog. I followed his finger to see another person standing in the fog, surrounded by Murkrow. He seemed to be standing in front of a Miniremo, so I assumed he was a Dim Sun. It was really hard to tell through the thick black fog though.

"Are those Murkrow creating the fog?" I asked.

"I think so," Keith replied. "Maybe if we capture them the fog will go away."

I nodded. "It's worth a try, anyway," I said. We stepped closer to the Dim Sun guy.

"Hey!" Keith exclaimed. "What are you doing with those Murkrow?"

"Wah!" The guy replied. "Who goes there?" Oh right, he couldn't see us. "I can't see your face, but I can do this!"

I heard him push a few keys on the Miniremo, and the Murkrow charged at us. Keith and I each caught two Murkrow. It was a lot harder than it normally would be because of the fog. When we finished our captures the Murkrow flew away and the Miniremo exploded. However, the fog was not lifted when the Murkrow flew away.

"You unseeable trespassers!" The Dim Sun exclaimed. "You're not getting away with this!" The guy ran off.

"Hey!" Keith said. "Come back here! Tell us how to clear the fog!" He started to run after the Dim Sun, but I grabbed his wrist, stopping him.

"Keith, no," I said. "It's not worth it."

Keith sighed. "Fine," he said. "I guess we can find a way to clear the fog ourselves."

"There must be a pokemon that can clear this," I said. "Let's go look." Keith nodded, and we ran through the Highlands. It was really annoying to get through, because we could barely see where we were going. Eventually, we found a Dim Sun standing outside a cave that was blocked of by a wooden fence. He turned to us.

"Hey, were those the last of the Pokemon that can use Demist?" he asked. I guess he couldn't see anything either… really great plan there, blinding yourselves!

Neither Keith nor I said anything. The Dim Sun squinted at us. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "You're not on our side! Not being able to see each other's faces is so inconvenient!"

"And whose fault is that?" I said. "You guys were the ones who made this mist, weren't you?"

"So what if we were?" the guy replied. "We've already hidden away all of the Pokemon that can use Demist, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Oh, yeah?" Keith said. "Try us."

The guy growled. "I'll make you eat your words!" he shouted. He pulled out a Miniremo and sent two Koffing and two Murkrow on us. Keith and I each caught one of each, causing the Miniremo to explode.

"Who cares if I lost?" The guy said. "The Pokemon are already hidden! You'll be stuck wandering around in this fog forever!"

The guy ran away. I walked over to the cave. "So, how much do you want to bet that the Pokemon that can use Demist are behind this fence?" I asked.

Keith laughed. "We don't need to bet, cause no one would go against us!" he said. "Let's find a Pokemon that can break this fence."

"Okay," I said. We started to walk back toward the entrance of the Highlands. "It might be difficult with the mist though. It's impossible to see any-" Suddenly, something rammed into me, cutting me off. The thing knocked me off my feet, and pushed me back a few feet.

"Sparkette!" Keith exclaimed, running over to me. "Are you all right? What happened?"

"Something ran into me," I replied. Keith held out his hand. I took it, and he pulled me to my feet. "It's no big deal, though. I'm fine."

"You sure you're alright?" Keith said.

"I'm fine," I insisted. "Although, I do wonder what that thing was."

"I think it was a Carnivine," Keith said. "I saw a green Carnivine-ish blur, anyway."

"Hey, a Carnivine should be able to cut the fence!" I said. "Let's go find it!"

"So, we're going after the thing that hurt you?" Keith asked. I nodded. Keith grinned at me. "I'm good with that. Let's go!"

We ran through the Highlands, searching for the green Pokemon. It was really annoying to find it since it was so dark, but eventually Keith managed to find one.

"Sparkette!" Keith shouted. "I got one!"

"Great!" I replied. "Go break that fence, then!"

Keith nodded, and ran over to the cave. I followed him. Keith had already broken the fence by the time I got there. A few silver Pokemon flew out of the cave, and Keith ran after one of them. A few moments later, a large breeze swept through the Highlands, blowing away the fog. I was glad my hair was in pigtails, because the wind was making it blow all over the place. The wind definitely did the trick, though. A few seconds later the black mist had disappeared completely. Keith ran over to me again.

"Well that worked!" he said cheerfully. "Let's go find Sven!"

I nodded, and we walked through the highlands once more. The Chroma Highlands were actually very pretty when they weren't covered in fog. It had dozens of natural rock formations, which kinda looked like archways. The cliffs were made of a grey stone, and were covered in moss. It was also great that we could actually see where we were going now.

Keith and I walked up a natural stone staircase which lead to the top of the Highlands. There was no way we could go further, the only exit was the way we came. Keith walked over to a sign next to a giant rock.

"According to this we are in the Chroma Ruins," Keith said, after reading the sign. "But I don't see Sven anywhere. It also doesn't look like we can go any deeper…"

"Hey, what's with this giant rock?" I asked, kicking the stone with my foot. To my surprise, it slid over about an inch. I thought noting would happen. "It looks like we can move it. Let's try it."

Keith nodded, and walked over to stand next to me. We bent down, and pushed the stone out of the way, revealing a giant staircase.

"Hey!" Keith exclaimed. "It worked! We can go deeper into the ruins now!"

"Let's go find Sven!" I said. "He's probably waiting for us!"

Keith nodded, and we walked down the staircase, entering the dark Chroma Ruins. At least it was slightly easier to see than when the fog was covering everything. There weren't really many Pokemon around, with the exception of a few Pikachu. We traveled through the ruins, almost getting lost a couple of times, until we reached a dead end. And Sven was nowhere to be found.

"So, what do we do now?" I asked. "This seems to be the end."

"We go up," Keith replied, pointing at the ceiling. I looked up to see a giant hole in the ceiling, one big enough for a person to fit through.

"Great!" I said. "How?"

"A Drifblim should be able to carry us through the hole," Keith said. "I think I saw some earlier in the ruins…"

"Wait, what are Drifblims?" I asked.

"They're the evolved form of Drifloons," Keith replied. "They kinda look like giant purple hot air balloons."

"Okay, then!" I said. It didn't really make a lot of sense, but I might as well go with it. "Let's go find some Drifloon!" Keith nodded, and once again we ran through the Chroma Ruins. We managed to find a few Drifloons, and we used them to carry us up to the next level. Upon arriving at the next level, I coughed.

"What is that smell?" I demanded, covering my nose.

Keith coughed as well. "I don't know, and I really do not want to find out," he replied. "Let's just find this Sven guy. Do you know what he looks like?"

I nodded, as we walked past a closed door. It seemed like the smell was coming from behind the door. "I saw his picture in the Almia Times once. He has raven colored hair, and he wears a white suit thing with a red hat. He kinda looks like a cowboy."

"Like that guy over there?" Keith said. I followed his gaze to see a man standing there, that fit the description of Sven perfectly.

"Yep!" I said. "Let's introduce ourselves!"

Keith nodded, and we ran over to Sven. "Hi!" Keith exclaimed. "Sorry we took so long!" Sven turned to us in shock.

"What are you doing?" he whispered, glaring at us. "Keep your voices down! Don't be an idiot!" Was that even possible for Keith?

"Sorry," Keith said. "What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," Sven said, his face softening. "I'm glad to see you two are safe. I'm Sven. Nice to meet you."

"My name is Sparkette," I said. I elbowed Keith, almost knocking him over. "And this idiot here is Keith."

"Hey!" Keith protested.

Sven laughed. "We can do more formal introductions later," he said. "Right now, I need your help."

"What can we do?" I asked.

"Hear those voices?" Sven said. I shook my head. "Well, then be quieter. I want to hear what they are saying. There are way too many Team Dim Sun goons around for my liking."

Keith and I nodded, and ran to stand closer to Sven. Looking over his shoulder, we could see about ten Dim Sun minions in a clearing. They seemed to be looking for something.

"They told us to dig up all of the Dark Shards we can, but they're running out," one of the minions said. Dark Shards? What are those? "There are only light colored ones left. You can see right through those."

"Yeah, I'm noticing that too," another minion replied. "But keep the clear ones anyway. You can make jewelry out of them and sell them to the gullible. How else are we supposed to get by on our rotten salaries?"

"You hear that?" Sven whispered. "Those Dim Sun goons are collecting rare stones for pocket money."

"Hey, Sven?" I said. He turned to me. "They said Dark Shards, right? What are those?"

"I'm not quite sure myself, but I'm guessing they must be the dark stones in the Gigaremo machines," Sven replied. "Sounds like they can only use dark colored stones for the Gigaremo. And it seems like they've stripped the place of all the good dark shards."

"So what should we do?" Keith asked.

"I propose we run them out of the ruins," Sven said.

"Should the three of us take them on?" Keith suggested.

"I see what you mean by idiot, Sparkette," Sven said, sighing. I laughed, as Keith glared at Sven. "There's a Pokemon in these ruins that can produce an overwhelming stench." Oh, is that what was behind that door? "One of you should capture that Pokemon and bring it back here."

"Uh, you can go, Sparkette!" Keith said happily. "I'll stay here with Sven."

"Gee, thanks Keith," I said, sarcastically. "I think I know what you're talking about, Sven. I'll be right back." I ran back the way we came, and stopped in front of the closed door. Once again, there was a horrible stench in the air. Ugh. Whatever this Pokemon was, I did not want to deal with it.

"Pachirisu, remind me to smack Keith later, okay?" I said to my little electric friend. She nodded.

I covered my nose, and walked into the room. Inside, I found a purple and white Pokemon. I think it was a Skuntank, but I wasn't really sure. I was glad I had my nose covered, because it smelled even worse in this room.

Suddenly, the Skuntank tackled me, knocking me off my feet. "Ow…" I complained, getting back to my feet. "That wasn't very nice! What did I do?"

The Skuntank just glared at me. I sighed. I wish I could speak Pokemon. Oh well, better capture this thing. The capture took a lot longer than expected. It was also the first time I tried my Power Charge ability, so that helped a little bit. It would've been really helpful if Pachirisu decided she wanted to be nice to me, but of course I had no such luck. She spent the entire capture sitting on my head. Pokemon were annoying sometimes.

Anyway, as soon as I captured the Skuntank I ran back to where Sven and Keith were waiting for me. Keith was glaring at Sven for some reason. I really had to wonder what they were talking about, but unfortunately I never got the chance to ask. Sven turned to me before I could say anything.

"Good job, Sparkette," Sven said. "That's another step cleared. You know where to use the Area Move, right?" I nodded. "Alright, folks. Showtime." Sven paused for a second. "Pinch your noses."

"Think I figured that out already," I murmured. I walked up to the Dim Sun goons. For some reason Keith thought it was a good idea to follow me. Sven, Buizel and Pachirisu were smart and stayed behind, hopefully out of the line of fire.

"Who are you?!" One of the goons demanded. Well that brought attention to me! All of the goons turned to Keith and me.

"Are you scrounging around for pocket change, too?" another goon asked.

"No, I'm not as desperate as you clowns," I said.

"Then what do you think you're doing here?" a third minion demanded.

"What's your problem?" said a fourth.

"There's nothing illegal going on here!" a fifth finished.

"How is stealing these stones legal?" I asked.

"Look, if we had to say, we'd be on the better end of Team Dim Sun," a sixth minion said.

"You can ignore us!" said the seventh. This was weird… how did they all know what the other was going to say?

"What do you think, Keith?" I said. "Should we leave them alone?"

Keith laughed. "I don't know…" he said, as though he were actually contemplating our choices. "Maybe we should let Skuntank deal with them."

"I like that idea!" I replied, also laughing. "Okay, Skuntank!" I said, covering my nose. "It's time to use your special ability!"

The Dim Suns stared at me confused. The purple Pokemon nodded, and ran to the middle of the clearing. I noticed Keith wasn't covering his nose. Oh well, not my fault he was an idiot.

A few seconds later, an overpowering stench filled the air. I was so glad I had my nose covered, because I could still smell it a little bit. The Dim Suns and Keith ran around the clearing, screaming about how bad it smelled. Sven and I laughed. They then ran out of the clearing, leaving me alone with Skuntank.

"Thank you, Skuntank!" I said through my hand. "See you again!" Not if I could help it. Skuntank ran out of the clearing, presumably going back to the cave. Sven walked up to me.

"Good job, Sparkette!" he said, laughing. Pachirisu ran over to me. "Couldn't have gone better, I'd say!" Sven moved the hand that was blocking his nose, but quickly put it back, coughing. "Keep your nose pinched."

I nodded as Keith ran up to us, followed by his Buizel. "Sven!" He shouted. "You could've warned me earlier!"

"He did, Keith," I said. "You just weren't paying attention."

"Sparkette, you could've warned me as well!" Keith exclaimed, turning on me. "You knew!"

"Well, you should've been able to figure it out!" I said. "It's not my fault you're an idiot!"

Keith opened his mouth to speak, but Sven stopped him. "We don't have time to argue," he said. "Forget about the incident. It's not important. What we're after is deeper in. Follow me."

Sven lept through a hole in the ground, and Keith and I reluctantly followed him. We found Sven standing behind a giant rock. "Sven, what's wrong?" I asked. "Are there more Dim Sun goons?"

"No, but look at that!" Sven replied. He pointed at a purple Pokemon that was in the middle of four stone thingys.

"Isn't that a Spiritomb?" Keith asked. "What is it doing here? Is it guarding something valuable?"

"Who knows?" Sven said. "It's sure not about to let us pass without a challenge, though. One of you should capture it."

I took a step backwards. That thing was a ghost. I hated ghost pokemon. I've hated them my entire life. And I knew for a fact Keith was scared of them as well.

"I'll do it," Keith said, stepping forward a bit. Wait, what? "Sparkette doesn't like ghost Pokemon." And you did, all of a sudden? "So I'll deal with this."

"Sounds good to me!" Sven said, grinning at Keith. Keith glared at him. Wait, why didn't Sven capture the Spiritomb? He was a Ranger as well. In fact, he was probably a lot more qualified than Keith and I. "Good luck, Keith!" Sven shoved my friend forward until he was a few inches in front of the ghost Pokemon. Keith took a step back from it a little bit. He really did not like ghost Pokemon. At all.

"Keith?" I said. "Are you sure you don't want me to capture it?"

"I'm sure!" Keith said confidently, stepping closer to the purple Pokemon. "You don't like ghost Pokemon. So I'll handle this."

I didn't know what to say. I couldn't believe Keith was doing this. He hated ghost Pokemon a lot more than I did. This capture wouldn't be too hard, I really could do it. I started to walk toward Keith, to try to convince him to let me capture it, but Sven stopped me.

"Let him do it, Sparkette," he said, smiling at me. "He's got something he needs to prove." What was he talking about? Keith readied his styler and started to capture the Spiritomb.

"Sven, what did you two talk about when I was gone?" I asked.

"Oh, nothing important," Sven replied, although I could tell he wasn't telling me everything. He was hiding something from me. "Let's just say Keith is probably really annoyed with me by now."

That honestly didn't surprise me. Keith was very easy to annoy. "So, Sparkette," Sven said. "How long have you known Keith?"

"A little bit over a year, I guess," I replied. "Really not that long. We just went to Ranger School together."

"You know, it's really amazing someone so young can become a Top Ranger," Sven said. "I think you're the youngest Top Ranger we've ever had."

"How old were you when you became a Top Ranger?" I asked.

"Eighteen," Sven replied. "You and Keith are much younger than that." Sven was right. I was only fourteen. And I think Keith was fifthteen, but I honestly wasn't quite sure. I never really asked. I did know he was older than me, though. "But anyway, just watch Keith do his capture. He's doing this for you, ya know."

What did Sven mean by that? Did it have something to do with what they talked about earlier? Keith kept on looking back at us during his capture, causing him to mess up a few times. Even though it was a simple capture, I could tell Keith really didn't want to do it. He was not a huge fan of ghosts. So why was he doing it?

A few moments later, a golden light engulfed the Spiritomb, and it ran away. "There!" Keith said, turning to us. His voice was a little bit shaky. "So now what?"

"We keep moving forward," Sven replied. "I think there's something back there."

"Okay!" I said. "Lead the way, Sven!"

The three of us walked through an opening in the back of the clearing. It lead to a second, larger clearing. In the back there was a giant pedestal type thing. It had three levels, and there was a giant hole in the wall at the top. The Pokemon ran up first, followed by Sven, Keith and me.

"Oh no!" Sven exclaimed. "We were too late!"

"What are you talking about, Sven?" I asked.

"I've been on the trail of this thing for quite a while now," Sven replied. "Seems someone's already gone and hauled it away."

"Hauled what away?" Keith said.

"You see that hole there?" Sven said. Keith and I nodded. "They must've pried something pretty big from a hole that size. I reckon it was a giant Dark Shard, or the Shadow Crystal. I figure it's bigger by far than those slivers those goons were scrounging for. Worse, I reckon it to be the color of pure darkness with no hint of light. That Shadow Crystal's been carried away, I'm afraid."

"Even the Spiritomb we saw couldn't protect the Shadow Crystal?" Keith asked.

"I don't think that's right," Sven said. "I'd say the Shadow Crystal was guarded by a Darkrai, most likely."

"What's a Darkrai?" I asked.

"Darkrai is a Pokemon that prefers darkness," Sven replied. "It makes no sense, though. Why couldn't the Darkrai protect the Shadow Crystal? Darkrai is a tough challenge to capture… How'd it allow this?"

"What would they want with the Shadow Crystal, anyway?" Keith asked.

"Well, look at the size of this hole," I said, walking up to it. "It's large enough for a person to fit though. Imagine breaking up a crystal of that size. Think about how many Gigaremo and Miniremo units they could make with it."

"Just imagining it makes me ill," Sven said, shuddering. "Team Dim Sun's boss must be laughing. I'd say he'd be happy to get a hold of that huge Shadow Crystal."

"Would that boss be Kincaid?" Keith suggested.

"I don't think so," I said. "Mr. Kincaid said he was their guiding light, or whatever. He's also not as smart as he looks. I mean, he probably still thinks he managed to defeat me."

"Okay, let's keep moving!" Sven said, after a long pause. We walked through the giant hole, then up a long ladder that led back to the Chroma Highlands. When we got outside of the ruins, we found a tiny shack on the edge of a cliff. It looked really beat up, it had holes in the ceiling and everything.

"What's this shack?" I asked. "It looks ancient."

"Look, there's a sign!" Sven said, running up to an old, faded sign. "It says… 'Alru Ol'. Altru Oil?! This shack is where Altru Inc. started?"

Sven ran into the shack without another word. Keith and I exchanged glances, then followed him into the shack. The inside was as much as a mess as the outside. There was an old, worn down table in the middle of the room, and a bunch of papers on the floor.

"Wow, this barren, run down shack was Altru in the old days?" Keith said. He ran up to the table and started searching it to see if anything was there. I went into the next room which kind of looked like a bedroom. There was a bed and a desk anyway. I started to walk over to the desk, but I tripped over something and fell onto the ground.

"Ow…" I complained, as I got back to my feet. I looked at the ground to see what I had tripped over. It was a green book. It looked like it had been badly burnt. I picked it up from the ground, and started to read through it.

"Sparkette?" Keith said, running over to me. "What just happened?"

"I tripped over this book," I admitted. "I think it's a diary. It has dates, anyway. But it's badly burnt, so I can't really make out the words."

Sven ran over to us. "What's going on over here?" he asked.

"Sparkette found this diary," Keith replied. I handed the book to Sven. He opened it and flipped through the pages.

"It's badly burnt, but I can make out words like 'darkness' and 'black.'" he said. "We should take it back to the Union for analysis."

Suddenly, we heard a lock click. We turned to see a green haired Dim Sun goon walk out of a back room. Wait… that hair… it couldn't be.

"Ponte?" I said, running up to the boy. "Is that really you?" He stared at me, then smiled.

"Sparkette!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"It's not just me!" I said, dragging Keith over to stand next to me. "Keith's here too!"

"Keith?" Ponte said. "What's going on here?"

"That's what we'd like to ask you, Ponte," Keith said. "What are you doing here? And when did you become a Dim Sun?"

"Huh?" Ponte said. "Oh, the outfit. Yep, it's a Team Dim Sun uniform. But I didn't agree with their policies so I quit the day I joined. You know me, I'm the conflicted marshmallow boy. I'm back to being free. So I made this shack my home. Did you know? This is where Altru Inc. probably started out." We kinda figured that out already, but I didn't want to say anything to upset Ponte. "It said so in an old diary that was charred in the fire."

"Oh, you mean this?" Sven said, holding the book up.

"Yes, that's it!" Ponte exclaimed. "But that diary is so beat up it's almost impossible to read. But hey, let me tell you about Team Dim Sun! Those guys are a bad joke. They're clueless about what they stand for, or even about what they're doing. They claim to be good with their slogan, 'A bright future for Almia!'" Where had I heard that before? That slogan sounded so familiar… "And yet they have that Dim Sun name. I can't figure them out. They were actually here until a couple of days ago. They were digging out a giant hunk of… I don't know, coal or something? All I know is that it was a huge effort with a lot of Pokemon doing the digging. It was hard work, and I had my doubts, so I quit Team Dim Sun right then and there!"

"Good for you, Ponte!" I said. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I've decided to kick back and ponder my future here," Ponte replied. "Fortunately, there's a big stock of canned food here and a working bathroom."

"Sounds like you've got it figured," Sven said. "So, do you know what became of the giant hunk of coal?"

"Some higher-ups, you know, better than us minions, took it away by helicopter," Ponte said. "Not sure if they went to the mountains or the sea, though. Besides the giant coal, they also took off with a big shipping container. I don't know what's inside, but I heard some cries coming from it."

"Cries?" Keith said. "I wonder what that could be…"

"Sorry for disturbing you, Ponte," I said. "And thank you for telling us all of that."

"It's fine, Sparkette," he replied. "I'm just glad I quit Team Dim Sun, so I don't have to battle against my friends."

"I'm glad you quit too," I said. "Thanks again, Ponte! See you!"

Keith, Sven and I ran out of the shack, not wanting to disturb Ponte anymore.

"I'm going to chase a few leads," Sven said, once we stepped out of the shack. "Take the diary back to the Union." He handed the charred diary back to me. "Be sure to give it to Professor Hastings. I'll report to him by voicemail. We'll meet again sometime. See ya, Sparkette and Keith!"

He ran in between us and back through the Chroma Highlands. I really wondered where he was going, but now wasn't the time to think about that. We needed to get back to the Union to show the diary to Professor Hastings.

"Hey, Sparkette," Keith said. "Race you back to the Union?"

"Oh, you are so on!" I said. "Just don't blame me when you lose!" I ran down the cliffs, laughing.

"Hey, no fair!" Keith shouted, as he started to run after me. "You got a headstart!"

"And what are you going to do about it?" I taunted, laughing. It was just like old times. I had really missed Keith when he was in Fiore. It was great to be together again.

"I'm going to…get very angry at you!" Keith said. I laughed again.

"See you at the Union, slowpoke!" I called, waving to my friend. I then ran off, leaving Keith far behind. Yep, just like old times.

* * *

**So yeah. There you have it, folks. Hopefully I can update before midnight tomorrow!**

**Be sure to leave a review!**


	20. Altru Park shenanigans

**Hi, people. I'm finally home from vacation. And today I had to go back to school... ugh. **

**Unfortunately****, I don't own Pokemon. **

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"Keith, what took you so long?" I asked as Keith walked onto the second floor of the Ranger Union.

"I didn't take that long!" Keith protested, running over to me. "I was only a minute behind! I could've won if you didn't cheat!"

"Yeah, in your dreams!" I said. "Even if we started at the same time I would've won."

"Oh, yeah?" Keith said. "Then let's have a rematch!"

"Sorry, but you'll have to do that later," Rhythmi said, walking down the escalator from the third floor. Keith and I turned to her. "Chairperson Erma is looking for you."

"Are we in trouble?" Keith asked.

Rhythmi laughed. "I love how that's your first guess, Keith," she said. "No, she just wants to talk to you about your recent assignment."

Keith sighed with relief. "Good. I'm glad we didn't do anything stupid our first day as Top Rangers," he said. Yeah, I didn't but you sure did. "I'll meet you guys upstairs."

Keith walked up the escalator, leaving me alone with our blonde friend. "So, how was your first mission with Keith?" Rhythmi asked, as we started to walk to the next floor.

"It was fine," I replied.

"Just fine?" Rhythmi said. "You two haven't seen each other in almost a year! What did you talk about?"

Why was she being so annoying about this? "Just things that had to do with the mission," I replied. Lie. "We didn't get as much time to talk as you might think."

"Come on, Sparkette!" Rhythmi said. "Tell me what happened!" She was blocking the entrance to the next room, and was probably not going to move until I answered her question.

I sighed. "I told Keith about the incident at the cargo ship," I admitted. "He freaked out on me, then we didn't talk about anything but the mission after that. There, you happy?"

Rhythmi smiled. "Very. Now I can blackmail Keith!" She laughed, and ran into the next room. Blackmail him with what? Why would she need to blackmail Keith anyway? I sighed. My friends are weird. I followed Rhythmi into the Operation Room where I found Chairperson Erma, Professor Hastings, and Keith waiting for me.

"Welcome back," Chairperson Erma said as I ran to stand next to Keith. "Sven's request for one or two Rangers as back-up… we actually staged it as a test of your abilities in the field." Is that why Sven made us do everything? "We just received a report from Sven, as a matter of fact. He rated your performances as 'flawless'." Really? Why? Keith and I were not really taking the mission too seriously…

"Oh, that reminds me," I said, pulling the burnt diary out from my pocket. "Sven wanted me to give this to you." I walked over to the professor and handed him the green diary. "We found it in a shack outside the Chroma Ruins."

Professor Hastings scanned the book. "This diary must contain secrets of the Shadow Crystal," he said. "We will send it to our research team right away. Linda!"

The blue haired Operator walked over to us. "Yes, Professor?" she said.

"I'd like you to take this downstairs to Nage," he said. "Tell him we need his team to try to restore it." Linda nodded, and rushed down the escalator to deliver the book.

"So how does this restoration thingy work anyway?" Keith asked. Why did I get the feeling we were both going to regret him asking that?

"Allow me to give you a technical explanation to what they are going to do," Professor Hastings replied. Oh no. "Microscopic measuring, optical analyses, molecular level X-ray spectroscopy…" I zoned out after that. I didn't understand what he was saying anyway, so I really didn't need to hear it. I'm pretty sure Keith stopped paying attention as well. Even Pachirisu and Buizel weren't listening! But then again, I wasn't sure if they ever did.

"And that's how we do things here!" Professor Hastings said, cheerfully. Finally! He was done talking! "If I had to explain it simply, technology is incredible!" Then you could have said that in the first place. I elbowed Keith, snapping him back to reality. He looked like he had been asleep.

"You two must be wrung out from all of the excitement today," Chairperson Erma said. She was the only one who seemed to have followed Professor Hasting's rant. "You should get some sleep. Tomorrow will be another long day."

Keith and I nodded. "See you guys in the morning!" Keith said, running out of the room. "Sparkette, you've still got that rematch to look forward to!" Oh great. I had kinda hoped he had forgotten about that by now.

Chairperson Erma chuckled. "Rest easy, Sparkette," she said. "With friends like that I'm sure you need it."

* * *

"Hey, Sparkette!" Keith said as I walked into the Operation Room the next morning. "You ready for another exciting day?"

"I'm afraid it may not be as exciting as you are hoping," Chairperson Erma said before I could reply. "Deciphering the diary is going to take longer than expected, so you two have some free time."

"Okay," I said. "Hey Keith, do you want to go to Altru Park with me? It's the perfect place for goofing… relaxing."

Keith laughed. "Sure," he said. "Lead the way, Sparkette!" Chairperson Erma didn't complain as we ran out of the Operation Room and down to the first floor of the Union.

"Is this going to be your first visit to the park?" I asked as we walked out of the Union.

"Yep," Keith replied. "I haven't really explored this part of Almia that much."

"Well, you're going to love it," I said. "Murph showed it to me a while ago. It's really pretty, and Altru Tower is pretty spectacular."

"Altru Tower?" Keith repeated. "What's that?"

"Oh, I'll show it to you," I said. "It's Altru Inc's office building. Isaac works there. He gave me a tour a while ago."

"Wait, Isaac?" Keith said. "He works for Altru Inc?"

"Yep!" I said. "Isn't that cool? If you had come with me to visit them on graduation day, then maybe you would know…"

"I was busy, alright?" Keith exclaimed, cutting me off. "Let's visit Altru Inc!"

We ran down the grass path that lead to the park. The park was a lot more crowded than I thought it would be. I wondered if something was going on in the park today. "Welcome to Altru Tower, Keith!" I said, as we walked toward the giant purple tower. And it really was giant now. They had gotten a lot of work done on the tower since the last time I had seen it. Even our Partner Pokemon seemed to be impressed by the large building.

"Wow…" Keith said. "Isaac really works here?"

"I know, right?" I replied. "It's really hard to believe. Isn't Altru Inc the greatest company ever or something like that?"

"Some people might say that," Keith said. "They're working to create a brighter future for the Almia region. So, do you want to give me a tour of the inside?"

"Sure, but I don't know how helpful I would be," I replied. "We should try to find Isaac. He would be a much better tour guide than me."

"I'm good with you," Keith said. "Let's go inside!" Keith grabbed my arm and dragged me into the giant purple building. The first floor was exactly as I remembered it, with the glass cases displaying some history things, and the purple rug, and the portraits in the back.

"So what are these exhibits?" Keith asked, gesturing to the glass cases.

"No idea," I replied. Keith laughed. "I think that's coal in there, but I really don't know what that has to do with Altru Inc's history. Told you Isaac would've been a better guide."

"Nah, it's fine," Keith said. "I don't really care what these things are anyway." Then why did you ask me? "Who are the people in those portraits back there?"

"Oh, those are the portraits of Altru's presidents over the years," I said, walking over to the paintings. "The first guy is… Doyle M. Hall, I think. I might be wrong on the middle initial. The dude in the middle is Brighton Hall. I don't know his middle initial. Isaac never told me. The third is Blake Hall. Blake is the current president. I actually met him the last time I came here."

"Wait, you met the president of Altru Inc?" Keith said. I nodded. "That's so cool! I wish I could've met him!" I honestly wish I didn't. Important people creeped me out. "So is there anything else you want to show me?" Keith asked.

"Nope!" I replied, cheerfully. "Thus concludes Sparkette's horrible tour of Altru Inc! We really should've tried to find Isaac!"

"Don't be so hard on yourself, Sparkette," Keith said. "This is only the second time you've ever been in here."

"It also doesn't help that my tour got cut short by Mr. Hall," I said. "But that doesn't matter anymore. We should probably go back to the Union."

"Right," Keith said. "Let's get going." We walked out of the building and back into the park. Pretty much the second we stepped outside, we could hear rock music from the square.

"Keith, do you hear that?" I asked. Keith nodded. "Let's go check it out!" Hey, the Union never told us when we needed to go back! So we were technically still on free time!

Keith and I ran through the park toward the sound of the music. In the center of the park we found a white bandstand. Three people were standing on it, one girl and two boys. The girl was playing the violin, one of the boys had an electric bass, and the other a guitar. They also looked really familiar for some reason. I felt kinda bad though, because Pachirisu didn't seem to like the music that much.

"Pokemon a go-go!" they shouted. Oh no. It was the Go-rock Quads. They were the children of the leader of that evil team back in Fiore! I had seen them in the paper a few times, and believe me it wasn't anything good. But why were there only three? Where was the fourth person?

"From across the sea, the Fiore born quadruplets have arrived!" the boy playing the guitar shouted. He had longer (and less spiky) hair than the other boy. Even though I knew they were the Go-Rock Quads, I had no idea what their names were.

"If you know us, you're a beloved fan!" the girl said. "You knew us as a criminal quartet then!"

"But that's all in the past!" the second boy shouted. "We've had a change of heart and direction!" Sure. "We've transformed into purveyors of theatrical rock!"

"What's the name of our band?" the three shouted as one.

"Go-Rock Quads!" the crowd said.

"Come on, we can't hear you!" cried the three siblings.

"Go-Rock Quads!" the crowd shouted.

"Don't be shy! Shout it loud and proud!"

"GO-ROCK QUADS!" Even Keith was getting into this now. But of course, he managed to mess it up.

"Uh, you there!" the first boy called, pointing his guitar at Keith. "We appreciate your contribution to our call-and response, but we're the Go-Rock Quads, not the go-rock squats. This is only a rehearsal, but please don't mess around during our show." I snickered. Keith elbowed me, nearly shoving me into his Buizel. Good job, Keith. Really good choice there.

"The quadruplet family band, Go-Rock Quads!" the girl continued, as if nothing had happened. "Four is the magic number for any band!"

"Four instead of three!" the bass player said. "Four rather than five!" the girl then did a crazy violin solo, followed by equally crazy guitar and bass solos from her brothers. The three siblings did one final pose, then lowered their instruments. The crowd broke out into wild applause. I hate to admit it, but even I was cheering for the band.

"Ya know, we've been stressing how we're quads, and a four piece band and stuff," the guitar player said. "But any which way you look at us, we're a trio, as in only three people." The crowd started murmuring as though they just realised this was true.

"It's because Clyde's gone off somewhere," the girl said. "Where did he go anyway?"

"No idea," the bassist said. "Said he had some soul-searching to do. He's been pulling out his hair over the lyrics for the song we're doing at the event." Event? What event? "He flipped out when he saw the lyrics Altru sent for the song. It was actually pretty funny. He went off ranting and raving that he couldn't sing this stuff."

"I wouldn't worry too much," said the first boy. "There's still plenty of time before the Altru commemoration event."

"But what if Clyde never comes back?" said the girl. "Then we'd have to change our name! What'll we be? The Go-Rock Trio? The Go-Rock Triplets? Go-Rock Three?"

Keith turned to me, grinning. "That was awesome!" he said. "I'm so glad we decided to come here today!"

"Me too!" I said. "But don't you know who those people are? You were stationed in Fiore, after all."

"I have never seen them before in my life," Keith replied. "Are they important?"

"I can't believe you never heard about them!" I said. "Those were the Go-Rock Quads. They are the children of the leader of the Go-Rock Squad! They're evil!"

"I can assure you, that's all in the past."

Keith and I turned in shock to see that the sibling rock band had walked over to us. "Yeah, we've seen the error of our ways," the girl said, smiling. "You don't need to worry."

"Trust me, if we wanted to destroy the world we could've done it by now," said the bass player. "With or without our father." I don't know why that convinced me they were nice, but it did. I think it was something about the way the bass player said that was what made it seem like they were telling the truth.

"Anyway, we wanted to introduce ourselves to you two," the guitar player said. "Being a Ranger is hard. I'm impressed that a couple of kids could actually be Rangers."

"Um, thanks, I guess," I said. "Sorry for jumping to conclusions. My name is Sparkette. And this is Keith."

"Hey, don't worry about it. We're used to it by now," the bass player said. "I'm Billy."

"Tiffany!" the girl said cheerfully.

"Garrett," the guitarist finished. "Nice to meet you, Rangers. Sorry we aren't doing the theme song, it's just not the same without Clyde."

"It's nice to meet you too," I said, politely. "And I think we're good without the song. I don't mean to be rude, but what are you doing in Almia? Don't you live in Fiore?"

"Mr. Hall asked us to play a song for Altru's birthday celebration," Tiffany said. So that was the event they were talking about earlier!

"And we aren't really easily accepted in Fiore after what happened a few years ago," Garrett said. "So we've been traveling all over the place and really focusing on our music."

"So you pretty much got kicked out of Fiore?" Keith said.

"I wouldn't really say that," Billy said. "But I will say that people in Fiore don't really trust us. Judging by the way you reacted to us, I'd guess that you were from Fiore as well, Sparkette."

I laughed feebly. "Yeah," I said. "Sorry. I kinda lived in Summerville when the whole Ranger Trial thing happened, so yeah." Keith looked confused. I guess he didn't hear about that, either… oh well, now was no time to explain it to him.

"Oh, sorry about all that," Billy said. "Must've caused you a lot of trouble. We were just doing what our dad asked us to."

"Hey, it's okay," I said. "Like you said, it's all in the past now."

"Besides, a lot of people have already forgotten about it," Keith said. "I lived in Fiore for almost a year, and I didn't hear anything bad about you guys." Or anything at all, for that matter. The three siblings beamed at us.

"You know, I'm honestly surprised you warmed up to us so easily," Garrett said. "You two seem to be good kids."

"You know, you kinda remind me of that Ranger from a few years ago," Billy said. "You have the same kind heart, anyway."

"Thank you," I said. It felt weird to have a normal conversation with these people (especially with their crazy outfits), but they seemed to be nice enough. Even though their father tried to take over the world.

"I hate to say it, but Sparkette and I should probably go back to the Union now," Keith said. "It was nice to meet you guys!"

"Nice to meet you too!" Tiffany said. "Hey, you two should come to our show! It's on Altru's birthday!" Totally knew when that was, by the way.

"We'll do our best to make it!" I said as Keith and I started to walk away from the siblings. Tiffany was waving at us cheerfully. "See you again sometime!"

Keith and I ran off without another word. It was almost noon, I really hoped the people at the Union weren't worried about us. Keith didn't seem to care, though.

"That was so awesome!" Keith said. I think he was walking as slowly as possible just to annoy me. "I'm glad you suggested it, Sparkette!"

"Yeah, the park is really great," I said. "But we really should get back to the Union now. They're probably looking for us."

"What's the hurry?" Keith said. "If they needed us they could've contacted us via voicemail."

I had to admit Keith had a point there. But I wanted to go home. So I did something I would probably regret later.

"Hey Keith, you still owe me that rematch," I said. Keith grinned at me. "Race you back to the Ranger Union?"

"Let's do this," Keith said. "On my mark! Get set… go!"

Keith and I started to run as fast as we could down the path to the Ranger Union. I felt kinda bad, we left our Partner Pokemon in our dust. But they would catch up eventually. We reached the Union relatively fast, considering Keith was doing everything in his power to slow me down. Which wasn't really a lot, but still.

I somehow managed to reach the Union first, but Keith was close behind me. Too close. I charged into the building, ignoring the confused looks on everyone's faces, and ran up to the second floor. I was about to go into the Operation Room, when I ran into…

"Rhythmi!" I exclaimed as I nearly knocked over my friend. "What are you doing?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Rhythmi said.

"Well, Keith and I were having a race and-" I started. Rhythmi laughed, cutting me off.

"Say no more," she said. Pachirisu ran over to me. See, I knew she would catch up! If only Keith would… "To answer your question, I'm here to check on the research team."

"Oh, can I come?" I asked. "I want to see if they made any progress with the diary."

"I don't see why not," Rhythmi replied. "Come on."

"Sparkette you cheated again!" There he was!

"What did I do this time?" I asked, turning to face Keith.

"You… you… did something," Keith said. I laughed. "But there is no other explanation to you beating me! So you must've cheated!"

"Come on, Keith, just accept the fact that Sparkette beat you fair and square!" Rhythmi said.

"You weren't even there!" Keith said.

"Yeah, but you are a lot more likely to cheat than Sparkette is," Rhythmi said. Keith glared at her, but was too flustered to come up with a comeback.

"Rhythmi, let's go check on Nage!" I said, not wanting to sit around any longer.

"Wait, what?" Keith said. "Where are you guys going?"

"Professor Hastings sent me to check on our research team," Rhythmi explained. "And Sparkette wanted to come with me."

"Can I come too?" Keith said. "I'm bored." I facepalmed. Really? That was his reason? And you were already bored? We had only been here for a minute. Rhythmi sighed as well.

"I guess so," Rhythmi said. "Just don't annoy the team too much." Keith nodded, and the three of us walked into the research room. The room was a lot smaller than one might expect. And so was the research team. Our research team consisted of two people, Vantona and Nage. For some reason Murph was in the room as well. He was standing next to a black pedestal that had one of the Dark Shards in it.

"Rhythmi! Keith! Sparkette!" Murph shouted, running over to us. "Keep your voices down. No shouting ever." Weren't you the one who just shouted at us from across the room? "We do not want to disturb the fellows deciphering the diary." Suddenly, Murph hiccuped. Really loudly. Keith, Rhythmi and I had to hold back laughter as Murph started to panic about what the scientists would say to him.

Nage was laughing as well. "Murph's sunny character uplifts me," he said. "He seems to take the edge off things." So that's why he was in here! Suddenly, something started blinking on Nage's screen. "What's this?" he said, reading the message on the screen. Keith, Rhythmi and I watched him intently. "There are some letters starting to emerge on the cover! It says… B-R-I-G-H-T-O-N."

"Brighton?" Keith repeated. "Wait… but Sparkette, didn't you say that's-"

"It is!" I exclaimed, accidentally interrupting my friend. "Brighton is the name of the second president of Altru Inc!"

"So does that mean the diary was written by Brighton Hall?" Rhythmi asked.

"That's my guess!" Keith said. "We should go tell Professor Hastings!"

"Tell me what?" Keith, Rhythmi and I turned in shock to see Professor Hastings walk through the door.

"Professor!" Rhythmi said. "What are you doing here?"

"You were taking too long," Professor Hastings said. "I was getting impatient." Of course. Rhythmi laughed feebly.

"Sorry," she said. "I ran into some… complications. Otherwise known as my friends being idiots."

"Hey!" I protested. "Only Keith is an idiot!" Rhythmi laughed as Keith shoved me into Murph. I think Murph was entertained by the whole thing as well.

"What did you three need to tell me?" Professor Hastings said impatiently.

"Oh, right!" Keith said. "We discovered that the writer of the diary is the second president of Altru Inc., Brighton Hall."

"Really? That's a spectacular discovery!" Professor Hastings replied. "President Brighton Hall was a rather plain and undistinguished man in appearance. I've no idea where he may live now, or indeed, if he's alive. Rhythmi, go get Chairperson Erma. She needs to hear about this."

Rhythmi nodded and ran out of the room. She came back a moment later, followed by Chairperson Erma.

"Is everyone present?" Nage said. "May I begin my presentation?" Professor Hastings nodded. "Great. President Brighton's diary, we estimate, dates back some thirty years. At the time, it's apparent that the oil field of the Chroma Highlands was running out. Brighton was very concerned about this. But then, Brighton made a huge discovery while drilling a shaft in the oil field. A mysterious black stone that was found mounted atop a ceremonial dias. This, I believe, is what Sven mentioned in his report as the Shadow Crystal. Brighton writes that something in his heart responded to the Shadow Crystal. He sensed that the crystal embodied an immeasurably vast amount of energy. The diary also touched upon his only child, Blake Hall. Any mention of the current Altru president was just in passing, however. Brighton apparently left care of his only son mostly to his wife. He focused his attention on studying the Shadow Crystal."

"That's horrible!" I said. I couldn't help myself. This earned me a glare from Professor Hastings, but I didn't care. "Brighton abandoned his only son for the Shadow Crystal? What kind of father is he?"

"I'm not sure if that's quite right, Sparkette," Nage said, laughing. "But that's all we have so far, so I can't really prove that. I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you more. We'll tell you if we make any more discoveries."

"Well done," Professor Hastings said. "Sparkette, I'm sure your questions will be answered in due time, so I wouldn't worry. We're starting to see a connection emerge between the Shadow Crystal and Altru Inc."

"Wow, that's amazing," Murph said. "This little black stone's the energy of the future, huh?" Murph walked over to the pedestal that had the Dark Shard in it.

"Isn't that amazing?" Keith said. "It's really hard to believe that a tiny stone can be the dream energy Altru is looking for!"

Suddenly, Murph started glowing. Wait, what? Why was Murph glowing? Even Murph was confused as to why he was glowing a bright blue color. "What is this?" Murph said. There was a blinding flash of light. Everyone in the room staggered backwards.

"M-Murph!" Professor Hastings stuttered. "Your chest… It's shining! What on earth is happening to you?"

"Murph… looks pretty," Keith said. I snickered, and he elbowed me.

"Murph, what are you hiding in your chest?" Professor Hastings asked.

"Now hold on!" Murph said. "I've got nothing to hide…" There was another blinding flash of light. "Oh!" Murph said. "What's shining is my pendant!"

Professor Hastings rushed over to the monitors behind him. "This is incredible!" he said. "Look at the meter readings! The power of the Dark Shard has dropped sharply! What's going on here?"

"Hey, Murph," I said. He turned to me, nearly blinding my friends and I with his pendant. "Where did you get that thing anyway?"

"Oh, my dad gave it to me as a gift," Murph replied. "It's a souvenir from the Hia Valley! My pa is a leader of a Pokemon research team in Hia Valley. he said this pendant was made by an old lady who lives in Hia Valley. It's made from a blue stone named 'Tears of Princes'."

Professor Hastings pace the room, lost in thought. He then turned to me sharply, startling me a little. "Sparkette!" he exclaimed. "Don't just stand there! Hop to it at once, chop-chop!"

"Um, I'm not quite sure what you want me to do," I said.

"Go to Hia Valley!" Professor Hastings said. "Hia Valley it is! Go to Hia Valley and gather information on the Tears of Princes at once!"

"Um, do you want me to go with her?" Keith asked.

"Keith, we need you to stay here to assist me," Professor Hastings replied. "Things will only get more hectic now!"

"Okay," Keith said. He sounded a little bit disappointed, but he was hiding it well. I kinda wished he was coming with me as well.

"Oh, Sparkette!" Murph said. "I need to tell you how to get to Hia Valley." Oh right. That was slightly important. "You go south from the Ranger Union until you reach a river. It's called the Dream River. It's really pretty. Follow the river into a cave. That cave will take you to Hia Valley. You can ride there on a Floatzel, the evolved form of Buizel."

"Got it," I said. "Thanks, Murph."

"Good luck, Sparkette!" Rhythmi said. "Voicemail us when you get to Hia Valley."

"Okay!" I said. "See you guys later!" I ran out of the research room, followed by Pachirisu, and out of the Ranger Union. It was a lot later than I thought it would be. The sun was already setting.

"Sparkette, wait!"

"Keith?" I said, turning back to the Ranger Union. "What's up?"

"They may be able to stop me from going with you, but they can't stop me from giving you this," he said, running up to me. He pulled off his jacket and held it out. I didn't take it. "I heard it's cold in the Hia Valley. You should take this with you."

"But Keith, will you…" I started. Keith shushed me with his finger.

"Just take it," he said, shoving his jacket into my hands. "You're gonna need it a lot more than me."

"Keith… thank you," I said.

"Hey, no problem," Keith said. "Have fun in Hia Valley! See you later!" Keith ran back into the Ranger Union without another word. I stared at the door for a while, kind of hoping Keith would come back out. Unfortunately, he didn't.

"Come on, Pachirisu," I said, slipping on Keith's slightly oversized jacket. "Let's go to Hia Valley!"

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**So this chapter was pretty long for pretty much nothing getting accomplished. Oh well. **

**But awwwwwww isn't Keith adorable? I love him so much. (I think I may have a problem...)**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Leave a review!**


	21. Off to Hia Valley!

**Annnnddd we are back with another chapter of Shadows of Almia! **

**I decided that I'm only going to update every-other day from now on. Just a heads up.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Sorry to disappoint you. **

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

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Finding a Floatzel was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I almost went all the way to Altru Park before I managed to find one. Capturing it was also kind of annoying, but I still managed. Pachirisu also decided to be helpful, so that was good.

The Floatzel carried us up the shimmering Dream River until we reached a cave. The cave was even darker than outside. It was really hard to see. But luckily, Floatzel knew where he was going. He carried Pachirisu and I to the back of the cave, where he let us off at a dock.

"Thank you, Floatzel!" I called as the orange Pokemon swam away. "Let's get going, Pachirisu!"

The little electric Pokemon nodded, and we ran deeper into the cave. It got colder and colder as we went along. The ground was covered in ice, even though we were inside a cave. It was freezing. I was not looking forward to the Hia Valley…

The cave wasn't really hard to get through, it was just long. And annoying. And cold. Not really the best combination. I was really glad I had Keith's jacket.

"Well well, what do we have here?" Who said that? "I had only returned from sealing the exit to Hia Valley when it happened. Along came a Pokemon Ranger." A Team Dim Sun Admin walked over to me. "One obviously overwhelmed by the task at hand, and suitably weak in appearance." Hey! "With a flourish, I allow my fingers to scamper across the Miniremo's keys…" The Admin pulled a Miniremo out from nowhere and pressed a few keys. A second later, I was stuck in a capture with three Golbat. Great. Just great. They weren't hard to capture, but it was still annoying.

The Miniremo exploded as the three Pokemon flew away. "Humbled and crushed by the awful reality of my own weakness of being, I fled," said the Admin as he started to run toward the exit.

"How are you going to get out?" I asked. "Didn't you say you blocked off the exit?"

"Oh, right." Wow, so the Admins weren't any smarter! "Out the other way, then!"

The Admin ran past me and out of the long cave. I sighed. How was I supposed to get out, though? The Admin had blocked off the exit with a giant block of ice. Great, just great.

Suddenly, Pachirisu let out a cry and ran back through the cave. "Hey, where are you going?" I called, running after the little Pokemon. "Come back here!" I followed the Pokemon back through the cave, until I found her standing in front of an opening in the wall. "Is there something in there, Pachirisu?" I asked. Pachirisu just started at me. I laughed. "I'll take that as a yes." I walked into the cave to find a giant orange Pokemon. I think it was a Camerupt. Wait… a Camerupt… that's perfect! A Camerupt would be able to melt the ice that was blocking the exit!

I captured the Pokemon easily, then lead it to the end of the cave. It used flamethrower on the ice, effectively melting it. The Camerupt ran back to the cave, leaving me alone with my mischievous little partner. I picked her up and held her inside the jacket.

"It's going to be cold out there," I said. "Are you ready?" Pachirisu nodded, and I carried her outside of the cave. Everything was white. The Hia Valley was covered in snow. It was freezing.

"Come on, don't make me repeat myself, you warmly bundled fellow!" Another Dim Sun Admin! He was standing in front of a man wearing a blue coat. The man was standing in front of an Empoleon. "Hand over that Empoleon and make no fuss about it! I need that Empoleon for getting to Almia Castle!" Almia Castle? What was that?

"I said I won't, and I mean it!" The guy in the blue coat replied. "This Empoleon is injured! It needs treatment!"

"Then put a little spit on it!" the Admin said. "That and a bandage will fix it up! But okay, alright, you've made your point. If that's how you feel. I'll set my Houndoom on you with this Miniremo with the controls set on attack!" The Admin started to push keys on the Miniremo, and the Houndoom walked toward the man, growling.

Oh no. "Don't hurt him!" I cried, running to stand in front of the man. I set Pachirisu back on the ground next to me.

"Who are you?" the Admin demanded.

"I'm a Pokemon Ranger," I replied. "And I'm not going to let you hurt this man, or Empoleon!"

"Oh really, Miss thinly dressed Ranger!" I wasn't that thinly dressed. The jacket was a lot warmer than it looked. "Can your frozen hands handle your styler?" The Admin pushed some keys on the Miniremo and the Houndoom charged at me. I pulled out my styler and started to capture it. There were some slight difficulties because my hands were freezing, but I still managed. The Houndoom ran away and the Miniremo exploded.

"I want to peg you with a snowball. Hard," said the Admin. "That's how I feel about this." The Admin ran back toward the frosty cave. I turned to the man.

"Are you alright?" I asked. "That guy didn't hurt you, right?"

"I'm fine," he replied. "Thanks for saving me, Ranger!"

"Sparkette," I said. "My name is Sparkette."

"Well, thank you Sparkette!" the man said. "Call me Pamur. Everyone else does. It's my nickname. You see, my only son is named Murph, and since I'm his dad they arrived at Pamur."

"Oh, you're Murph's dad?" I said. "I work with him! I'm a Top Ranger at the Union. Murph is one of my friends."

"Oh really?" Pamur said. "Then I'm guessing you've had to bail Murph out a few times as well. Thanks for the both of us."

"Hey, it's what a Ranger does!" I said. "So, I'm pretty sure I heard that Dim Sun guy say Almia Castle. What is that place?"

"Oh, Almia Castle is an abandoned building on the other side of a lake," Pamur explained. "It's been abandoned ever since it was encased in ice. It makes no sense to go there now. I wonder why those Dim Sun bullies want to go there."

"How do you get to Almia Castle?" I asked. "If Team Dim Sun is interested in it, then I should probably check it out as well."

"You can cross the lake riding Empoleon, but since he's injured we can't get there," Pamur replied. "In the mean time, how about coming to our shiver camp? It's a little bit warmer than out here, anyway. Besides, it's pretty late. You should get some rest and warm up."

"Okay," I said. "Thank you." Pamur lead me down a snowy path that lead to a small camp. The camp was pretty empty. It had a few huts and a Ranger Depot, but other than that is was empty. It was as white as everything else in this frozen wasteland.

"Welcome to shiver camp, Sparkette!" Pamur said cheerfully. "Let's get you warmed up. I live in the dome in the back."

Pamur lead me through the camp to the largest dome, the one in the back. The inside was slightly warmer than outside, but it was still really cold. I held Pachirisu tightly, trying to keep us both warm.

"Would you like some hot chocolate or anything?" Pamur asked.

"Um, sure," I replied. "Thank you." Pamur walked over to a kitchen area in the back of the dome and put a kettle of water on to boil. I sat down at a small table.

"So that creep who attacked me was from Team Dim Sun?" he said.

"That's right," I replied.

"Come to think of it, the Almia Times wrote about them," he said. He pulled a newspaper out from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was a special edition that explained Team Dim Sun's goals, the Gigaremo, and it had a map of their crime rate. Far too many areas were red on the map for my liking. "The world's turning into a less and less safe place, it seems." The kettle whistled, and Pamur finished making the hot chocolate. He grabbed one of the mugs and handed it to me.

"Thank you," I said, taking the cup.

"So, how is Murph doing?" Pamur asked. "I hope he isn't causing too much bother for everyone."

"You don't need to worry," I said. "Murph is doing well. He's really nice, and he keeps everyone in good spirits. It's great to have him around."

Pamur sighed with relief. "That's good to hear," he said. "I know I'm being over protective, but I can't help but worry."

"Um, speaking of Murph, I was wondering if you could tell me anything about his pendant," I said.

"That was a souvenir for Murph, since I can only visit him occasionally," Pamur replied. "The pendant was handmade by Ms. Winter, who lives nearby. She's a sweetheart, that old lady. Just chatting with her warms me down cockles of my heart. To all of us in the research team, she's like an emotional stove. Maybe you should visit her tomorrow. She can probably tell you more about the pendant than I can."

"I'll go now," I said. "This mission is kind of important, so I'd better hurry."

"Okay then," Pamur said. "Feel free to come back here when you're done."

"I will!" I promised. "Pachirisu, are you coming?" Pachirisu nodded and lept of the table. We ran out of the hut together and into the snowy camp. We ran down the path until we reached a small log cabin. I assumed this was Ms. Winter's house, because no one else was crazy enough to want to live out here.

I knocked on the door. "Is anyone home?" I called. "I'd like to ask you about something!"

"Come in, then," a voice called from inside the cabin. "We can't have you standing outside in the cold."

I opened the door to be greeted by a blast of warm air. There was a fire crackling in the back of the cabin, and an old woman was sitting on a chair in front of it. I assumed this was Ms. Winter.

"Oh, hello!" she said. "It's a rare occasion to see a Ranger."

"It's nice to meet you," I said. "My name is Sparkette. I work with Murph."

"Oh, and you're a friend of wee Murph?" she said. I wouldn't really call him wee… "And what can I do for you today?"

"I was wondering if you could tell me about that pendent you made for Murph," I said. "What is that blue stone you used?"

"The small blue stone?" Ms. Winter clarified. I nodded. "When I was a child, we called those stones, well shards, really, the 'tears of princes. They were considered symbols of good luck. We were delighted if we found any."

"Tears of princes?" I repeated. "What are those?"

"In the Almia Region, there is a legend," Ms. Winter said. "When I was a little girl, everyone knew it from a children's storybook. That book faded from view over the ages. The folktale was eventually forgotten, too."

"Do you remember any of it?" I asked. "Anything you can tell me would be really helpful."

"I believe the folktale was titled 'The King of Almia and the Three Princes,'" Ms. Winter replied. "When deep darkness did arrive in the Kingdom of Almia, the prince in blue stood. We willed himself to shine with light. A light that turned darkness into light… I think that's how it went, anyway. I don't remember what the other two princes were doing or where they were. I'm sorry I can't help you with this. I read that story book so long ago. There is one other thing, the name Tears of Prince they gave to the blue stones... That is somehow tied to the ancient folklore. That I remember clearly."

"That sounds like an interesting fairy tale," I said.

"Yes, that's what it is," Ms. Winter said. "A fairy tale. But that blue stone... I really did find it near Almia Castle when I was a wee girl. When people saw it, they believed that it must've come from a giant blue crystal. Many daredevils went searching for the crystal in the castle but without success. They all had to give up and turn back. Those were the days..."

"Thank you for that intriguing story," I said. "But I'd better go back to camp. It's getting late."

"Come back any time, dear," Ms. Winter said as I ran out the door. Pachirisu and I ran all the way back to Pamur's house.

"Hey, Sparkette! Are you awake yet?" I groaned. Now I was. Thanks, Pamur! "You've got a visitor who wants to thank you!"

A visitor? I leapt out of the bed and ran outside. I wasn't planning on spending the night, so I didn't pack any nightclothes and ended up sleeping in my uniform. Oh well, at least it was warm.

When I got outside the hut, I found the Empoleon I helped the other day running around in circles. "Hey, Pamur," I said. "What's going on?"

"Empoleon wanted to thank you for your help yesterday," Pamur replied. "Thanks to you he's back to full health!"

"That's great!" I said, petting the Empoleon's head. "Does that mean you can take me to Almia Castle now?"

"Wait, you were actually serious about going to the castle?" Pamur said. I nodded. He sighed. "I guess I can't stop you. Be careful, alright?"

"I will!" I promised. Empoleon ran off to wait for me by the lake. "Are you ready to go to Almia Castle, Pachirisu?" My little electric Pokemon nodded.

We started to walk out of camp, but I stopped when my styler started beeping. Oops. I had forgotten to call the Ranger Union last night...

"Voicemail, voicemail!" Rhythmi's voice called through my styler. "Did you make it to Hia Valley yet?"

"Yeah, I got here last night," I replied. "Sorry I forgot to call."

"Hey, is that Sparkette?" Keith's voice came through the styler. "Rhythmi! You shoulda told me you were calling her!"

"Well, maybe if you asked me to tell yo-" Rhythmi started.

"So how's the Hia Valley, Sparkette?" Keith interrupted. "Is it cold?"

"Yes, Keith," I said. "The Hia Valley is very cold."

"Sparkette!" Rhythmi said. "Professor Hastings wants to talk to you! Let's go, Keith!"

"Wait, where are we going?" Keith asked. It sounded like their voices were getting further away.

"We need to go check on the research team!" Rhythmi said, cheerfully. "Sparkette, have fun in Hia Valley!"

"Hey! Why do I have to go?" Keith protested. I know I wasn't there, but I could just imagine Rhythmi dragging Keith down the escalator. "I never signed up for this!"

"Talk to you later, Sparkette!" Rhythmi called.

"Good morning, Sparkette," Professor Hastings said. Was he there the whole time? Did he hear our entire conversation? That was probably why Keith got taken away…

"Good morning, Professor," I said. "What did you want to ask me?"

"I was just wondering if you found anything out about that stone in Murph's pendant," Professor Hastings replied.

"I found out the stone comes from a larger blue crystal," I replied. "Apparently the shards were found by the Almia Castle, so I'm going to investigate today."

"Excellent work, Sparkette," Professor Hastings said. "While we were deciphering Brighton's diary, we came across the words 'blue gem'. Perhaps this is the crystal you heard about. Make haste to the Almia Castle, and report your findings."

"Okay," I said. "I'll call you guys later. Bye!"

I hung up the styler before Professor Hastings got the chance to reply. With Pachirisu close behind me, I walked out of the shiver camp and toward the frozen lake.

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**So yeah. Review if you enjoyed!**


	22. Lucario and the Mystery of the Blue Gem

**Wow my chapters are getting longer. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy! Please leave a review! I wanna see what you guys think.**

**Btw, I totally don't care if someone's used this chapter title before. I haven't seen it, and I happen to like it. **

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The Hia Valley was too cold. Even with Keith's jacket, I was freezing. And the fact that I was wearing shorts did not help. It was really annoying. I hated the cold. And Pachirisu didn't like it either. We walked through the frozen wasteland together until we reached the lake. Empoleon was already there waiting for me. I could see the giant castle from the other side of the lake. Even from here, the castle looked spectacular. It looked like something out of a fairy tale. It was gorgeous.

"Hey, Ranger!" Huh? I turned to see a man in a yellow coat walking up to me. "Are you going to visit the castle?"

"That's right," I said.

"I'd say that castle is something to see, but not to visit," the man said. "It's tough to get even close to it. I can't stop you from going to the castle, but please be careful."

"I will," I replied. "Empoleon, can you take us to Almia Castle now?" Empoleon nodded and hopped into the ice cold lake. I climbed onto it's back, with Pachirisu on my shoulders. It started to swim toward the castle, ramming into blocks of ice and dodging whirlpools. I hate to admit it, but it was kinda fun. It also helped that Empoleon seemed to know the way to the castle. I didn't have to do anything, just sit back and enjoy the ride. It was nice to not worry about anything for a while.

And a while was not long enough. The trip was over way too soon, and Empoleon stopped in front of a dock by the castle. I hopped off of the Pokemon, and it swam back to the other side of the lake. Great, now how was I supposed to get back? Oh well, that was a problem for later. The main problem right now was the fact that the door to the castle was locked, and I couldn't get in. Great, just great. Because why would the world be convenient?

Luckily, I didn't need to worry about the door for too long. A gust of wind blew past me, nearly freezing Pachirisu and me, and caused two torches on either side of the door to light up. How? I don't know. Ancient castle logic, I guess.

Anyway, now wasn't the time to question the castle. I had to find that crystal, if it even existed. Surprisingly, the inside of the castle was warm. Even though it literally looked like it was made out of ice. It was really beautiful, and it was a lot warmer than the outside. But it was still pretty cold, and I did not want to take off the jacket. Or take Pachirisu off my head. She was fuzzy, and kinda acted like a hat.

The first room I entered had a giant dining table. It looked really elegant, like something from a story book. Standing next to the table was a Team Dim Sun Admin. Wait, what? Why was he here? A minion walked over to the admin from a room on the left.

"It's a no-go," the minion said. The Admin turned to him. "It comes to another dead end this way."

"The second floor corridor's also a no-go!" another voice called. Another minion had walked out of a second room. "It's impassable." The minion walked over to where the other two Dim Suns were standing.

The Admin was pacing the floor, desperate to think of an idea. "That leaves us with no other choice," he said. "We have to deal with that block of ice." Block of ice? I looked across the giant dining room to see a giant block of ice blocking a large door in the back. And by giant, I mean giant! It was humongous! There was no way a person could get past it. It was also pointy at the top, which really didn't help.

"That block of ice is huge," one of the minions said. "If we made snow cones out of it, we'd be able to feed, like, four hundred and three people."

"Can I have a snow cone?" I asked, walking up to the Dim Suns. They turned to me in shock.

"Hey!" one of them said. "That outfit! What were they called again?" I stared at him. Really? Someone in Team Dim Sun should know who I am. "Oh, yeah! You're a Pokemon Ranger, aren't you? What flavor syrup do you want on your snowcone?"

I laughed as the Admin hit the minion upside the head. "We are not making snow cones, you idiot!" he said.

"Wait, what is a Ranger doing here anyway?" the second minion asked. "There are no hints, answers, mysteries, or giant crystals here!"

"Oh, just shut up already!" the admin shouted. He turned on me and pulled out a Miniremo. "Houndour trio! No make that four, just in case! Attack!"

Really? That was just going to be annoying. Not hard, but very annoying. I captured the Pokemon easily, and the Admin's Miniremo exploded.

"I'm not happy about failing to acquire our objective, but let's retreat for now!" the Admin exclaimed. The three Dim Suns shoved me aside and ran out of the castle. I walked to the back of the hall, over to the giant block of ice. Pachirisu was close behind me.

"There's gotta be a way to melt this…" I mused, placing a hand on the ice. "Maybe a Pokemon can do something about it. Let's go look for a fire type, Pachirisu!"

Pachirisu nodded and climbed onto my shoulders. I decided to start my search in the corridor to the right. It led to a large room with a staircase in the right corner. I walked up the stairs to find another empty room, with two doors leading off to who knows where. I ran over to the other side of the room and opened the door there. I was greeted by a blast of cold air when I entered the next area. It was basically a bridge connecting two sections of the castle. The only problem was it was outside. And it was snowing. Great.

I ran across this bridge as fast as I could, not wanting to stay outside for too long. I think Pachirisu agreed with me on that one, since she had tried to snuggle herself into the jacket. Not really helpful when you're trying to run at full speed.

I tore open the door on the other side of the bridge and ran back inside, slamming the door behind me. Finally, it was warmer again. Pachirisu climbed back onto my shoulder. The bridge had taken me to another large room, with a large door in the back. Well that looked important! I ran through the door, only to fall onto the ground. The entire floor was covered in ice, and it was slippery! And there were also giant icicles falling from the ceiling. Fun.

I slowly got back to my feet, not really wanting to slip again, and weaved my way through the fallen icicles. It was actually a lot harder than it looked. There were a lot of icicles, and there were holes in the ground. And this was just my guess, but falling through holes was not good. Pachirisu was so lucky she could fit on my shoulders. She didn't do anything, I was doing the work for both of us. And it was not fun.

I made my way across the icy floor and slid through a door in the back of the room. And fell onto the ground once again because the ice suddenly stopped. I see what that guy meant by a great place to see but not to visit…

The next room looked like a little living area, but there was really nothing of interest in it. There weren't even any Pokemon! I ran through a door on the other side of the room and entered what looked like an art gallery. It was amazing the art was so well preserved even after all these years. Finally, I found something of interest. There was a Ninetales in the back of the room. Finally, a Pokemon that could melt the ice! I captured it easily, with some help from Pachirisu, and headed back to the first floor to melt the giant ice block. Getting back was a lot easier than getting there, because I actually kind of knew what I was doing.

Ninetales was able to melt the ice easily, clearing the path to the next room. Pachirisu and I walked through it, and Ninetales went back to the room where I captured it. The only thing in the next room was a staircase. I ran up it, followed by my little electric type, and into another empty room. I guess I really shouldn't have been surprised by this, since the castle was abandoned.

The next room was covered in ice again. It may have even been the same room from earlier, just on the other side. This time, instead of icicles, there were certain sections of the floor that fell apart after I walked on them. I ran though the room, carrying Pachirisu. It was a lot scarier than it should have been, since there was nothing but darkness underneath us. I really would have preferred a net, or a mattress, or at least a floor!

This ice room lead to another yet another empty room. This castle was running out of surprises for me, and it was getting really boring. Pachirisu was so bored she looked like she could have fallen asleep right there. I walked up a staircase in the corner of the room to another ice room. At least this one didn't have cracked floors or icicles. I made my way across the room carefully, not really wanting to slip. This ice room lead to another outdoor bridge. Great, just what I needed. More snow. I ran across the bridge, accidentally leaving Pachirisu behind a little bit, and back into the slightly warmer castle.

"Hey, what do you think of our boss?" Wait, there were more people here? I thought this castle was abandoned! "Do you think we did okay with Ice?" I peeked around the corner to find four Dim Suns, two minions and two admins. Uh oh. How did they get in here? I thought the entrance was blocked by that ice! Were they the ones that put it there?

I decided to stay in hiding for now, maybe I could learn who this Ice person was. Seriously though, that didn't even sound like a name! What normal parent would name their child Ice?

"Personally, I'm totally cool with Ice," one of the Admins said. It was the same voice from earlier, so I'm guessing he was the one who started the conversation. "You know how Lavana blows up in a rage for no reason. And Heath is a pain to cheer up if and when he gets depressed." Heath sounded like the name of a candy bar…

"Is that right?" the other Admin said. "I'd sooner have Lavana as my boss. She's so passionate. Like a volcano, she is. Most of all, out of the three bosses, she's the only lady."

"Yeah, but none of it really matters," the first Admin said. "Those three are the big boss's favorites. They can do no wrong. As long as they're around, it'll be tough for us to get promoted."

"So true," the second Admin said. "So very true. What rankles me is how we don't even get a proper name. Is it too much to ask for Admin A or Admin B or something?"

"Do you really want a name that sounds like a candy bar?" I said, walking up to the four Dim Suns. They turned to me in shock. "I think your real name is better than Heath, Lavana or this Ice person you keep talking about."

"Hey!" one of the admins said. "Don't insult our bosses!"

"And don't eavesdrop on our conversation!" the other admin said. "This conversation was not supposed to be for the ears of a Ranger!"

"Gah! This is just humiliating!" the first admin said. "We'll just have to make the Ranger forget!" Ugh. This was going to be annoying. "Commanding all Seedot! All-out chaaaaaaarge!"

All four Dim Suns pulled out a Miniremo. A second later, eight Seedot fell from the ceiling. Wow. I honestly don't know which was more embarrassing for them, me overhearing their conversation or them sending the Seedot on me. I was able to catch all eight of them in one loop. ONE LOOP. Even for Team Dim Sun this was pitiful.

All four of the Miniremos exploded as the Seedot ran away. "Everything feels meaningless!" one of the Admins exclaimed. "Do you have a name?"

"Of course I do!" I replied. "My name is Sparkette."

The Admin scoffed. "Why couldn't I get a cool name like that?"

The four Dim Suns ran past me and out of the castle. At least thats where I hope they went. But what were they doing here? And how did they get here? And who was Ice? Pachirisu suddenly climbed up onto my shoulders and started playing with my hair, snapping me out of my thoughts. I guess I would find out who Ice was eventually. And Lavana and Heath… why did the Admins want names like those? That was just weird.

"I think we're getting close, Pachirisu!" I said, as I started to walk through a door in the back. I probably should have been paying attention to where I was going, because once again I slipped on ice. And almost fell to another floor. This room had thin walkways of ice, so there were a lot more opportunities to fall. Luckily, I was able to grab onto the walkway without slipping, and climbed back on to solid ground once again.

"Are you okay, Pachirisu?" I asked. She had been clinging to me the entire time. She nodded, ensuring her safety. "Good. Hang on, it's going to get a little bit slippery." And by a little I meant a lot. It was really hard to navigate the icy paths without falling. It also didn't help that a few of the ice blocks fell apart after I walked on them.

It took a while, but I eventually got to the other side of the room. I opened the giant doors in front of me, and walked into the next room. It looked a lot like the entry hall to the castle, except for the fact that there was a giant blue barrier in the middle that connected two Riolu statues. There was a boy standing in front of one of the statues. He had spiky blue hair, a long white coat with a blue stripe down the middles, a light blue scarf, and he couldn't have been more than seventeen. And I did not want him to see me. Unfortunately, there was no good hiding spot in this room. And the boy already knew I was there. "I heard someone come in," he said, turning to the door. He smiled as he saw me. And it was really creeping me out. "Let's see…" the boy said. "My guess is a little kid playing Ranger while slipping and sliding around on the icy floor." I glared at him. He smirked. "Nailed it, huh?"

"I am not-!" I started. The boy laughed, cutting me off.

"Hey, sorry, sorry," he said, with a flip of his hair. "Don't get angry. Chill, all right? My name is Ice." Oh no. He was one of the Dim Sun bosses! "But you don't need to tell me who you are. I already know." What? I took a step back from Ice, seriously creeped out now. I did not like this guy. "You're a Top Ranger. Your name is, uh… Sparky, right?"

"My name is not Sparky!" I shouted.

Ice laughed. "Oh, I know. But Sparky suits a kid like you perfectly." I glared at the blue haired jerk. "Hehe, sorry. Chill." The ice puns were getting old. And fast. "You're after something blue, aren't you? I know all about that. How about we team up? You twirl your little styler, and I grab that blue thing. Don't worry, you'll get your share. I'll buy you an ice-cream soda. That's blue, just like you want. What do you say, Sparky?"

"No way!" I shouted. "I'd never work with a jerk like you! And stop calling me Sparky!"

Ice laughed. "What a shame. You're limiting my options, Sparky. This is all I can do for now." Ice pulled out a Miniremo and flipped his hair again. He then pushed a few keys on the Miniremo and a Froslass came out of nowhere. I took a few steps back from the Pokemon. It was part ghost. Great. This was going to be a lot of fun!

I was so glad I have power charge on my styler. It really helped with this capture. It was slightly distracting that Ice was watching me, but I tried to ignore him. Which was way harder than one might think. My styler got damaged so much during that capture because that jerk was distracting me. The fact that this Froslass was a ghost didn't help at all, either. Ghost and ice… not the best combination of types. The Froslass was really hard to capture, and Pachirisu was still trying to hide from Ice. I don't blame her, I wished I was hiding from him as well.

It took a while, but I finally managed to capture the Froslass. I glared at Ice as he calmly watched his Miniremo explode.

"Oh, yeah, okay," he said. "You're better than I expected, Sparky. I'll try not to be so careless the next time we meet." Next time? I didn't even want to meet him the first time! Why did I have to see him again?

Ice started to walk out of the room, but he stopped when he was standing right next to me. It was really uncomfortable. I did not like this guy. "Oh, yeah, that blue thing you wanted? Go ahead and take it. I'm washing my hands of that."

"What do you mean?" I said, taking a step away from him.

"I just don't need to go through the bother of getting it," Ice replied calmly. "There's a Pokemon guarding the blue thing. A Pokemon that's probably way too much for you, Sparky. It might even be impossible for me. I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to try, but I'd say you're wasting your time." I shivered as Ice patted my head. "So good luck with that. Catch you later, Sparky."

Ice left the room without another word. I stood there for a while, unable to move. Not even Pachirisu tugging on my hair could bring me back to reality. That Ice guy… he seriously creeped me out. I do not like him. At all. Make him go away. Although, I was kind of scared to meet the rest of the Dim Sun leaders now. If Ice was like that… who knows what Lavana and Heath would be like.

"Ice! We've found it!" Huh? "That Pokemon we've been looking for!"

Suddenly, two Dim Sun Admins burst into the room. "Even luckier, we found two of them!" one of the Admins said.

"Um, Ice isn't here, do you want me to take a message?" I said. The Admins stared at me in shock.

"Wait… you're not Ice!" Thanks for realising! "What's a Ranger doing here?" Aww, they even knew who I was!

"What I just said is all one big lie! I wasn't looking for any blue Pokemon! And I certainly didn't find two of them!"

The two Admins ran out of the room. "Blue Pokemon…" I mused. "What are they talking about?"

I walked over to the blue wall, followed closely by Pachirisu. It looked like the wall was made of light. Solid light. It was weird, but there was no way I could get past it. I sighed. Great. Now how was I supposed to get the gem? If Team Dim Sun was here, that meant it actually existed. So I had to get it. I walked over to the Riolu statue Ice had been inspecting. There was a small plate on it that read, The opposing Riolu statutes protect, and are protected by, the blue being.

What was that supposed to mean? Wait a second… Riolu were blue. Is the blue Pokemon they were looking for Riolu? Maybe I should try to find them! "Pachirisu, do you want to help me look for Riolu, or wait for me here?" I asked. "It might be safer if you stay here."

Pachirisu curled up into a ball on the ground. I guess she was choosing to stay here. Oh well. The company might have been nice, but I didn't want to put Pachirisu into danger. I ran out of the room and back onto the icy pathways. I decided to try going on the path to my right first. I carefully made my way across the icy paths until I reached a small door. I walked through it, relieved to be on a real floor again. The room I arrived in wasn't all that impressive. It just had a fireplace, and four chairs surrounding a small table. But there was a Riolu in the back of the room. Perfect. For once Team Dim Sun did something that was even a little bit helpful to me.

I captured the Riolu without too much difficulty. I wish Pachirisu had stayed with me, because she could have helped me a lot. But I gave her the choice to stay behind, and she did. So I really couldn't complain.

After capturing the Riolu, I ran out of the room and back onto the icy floor. I decided to look for the other Riolu before going back to Pachirisu. I made my way to the other side of the room, with the Riolu close behind me. He was actually good at walking on the ice, and it kinda made me feel silly. A Pokemon was better at my job than I was.

I found another Riolu in a room on the other side of the floor. This room seemed to be a bedroom. There was a bed, anyway. I captured the Riolu and made my way back where Pachirisu was. She ran over to me as soon as I entered the room. I walked over to the blue light, followed by the three Pokemon. The Riolu started squirming uncomfortably as we neared the wall.

"Riolu, can you do anything about this wall?" I asked. The Pokemon nodded, and went to stand by the two statues. There was a blinding flash of light as the two Riolu used some sort of attack on the wall. The wall was gone when the light faded, clearing my path to the next room. It actually worked! I could get to the next room now! The Riolu ran away, probably to go back to the rooms I found them in.

I walked through the door in the back of the room, followed closely by Pachirisu. The next area we came to looked like a cave. I wouldn't even classify it as a room. The walls were made up of frozen rocks, and it was a lot colder again. I held Pachirisu inside of Keith's jacket, trying to keep her warm. This was probably the coldest it had ever been. I really wished my uniform was warmer.

I ran to the back of the cave, and was about to continue into the next area when my styler started beeping. Keith was calling me!

"Voicemail, voicemail!" he said. "Hey, Sparkette! Have you found the gem yet?"

"Hi, Keith!" I said. "Not yet, but I'm getting closer! Sorry I'm taking so long. There were a few… complications." Namely, Ice.

"Hey, it's fine!" Keith said. "Professor Hastings is getting pretty impatient, though. You might want to hurry up. Plus, it's kinda boring around here without you. And Rhythmi's been annoying me."

"Are you sure it's not the other way around?" I asked. "You annoy Rhythmi a lot, you know."

"Trust me, she's being really annoying," Keith said.

"Oh, I'm the annoying one? Says the boy who is constantly bothering me while I'm trying to work!" Oh, there she was! Perfect timing, Rhythmi! "Sparkette, I actually have something important to tell you."

"Hey!" Keith exclaimed. "I'm talking to Sparkette right now. I was the one who called her this time, using my own styler! So you can't make me leave!"

"Sparkette, I'm getting indications that a tough Pokemon is ahead of you," Rhythmi said, as though Keith didn't even exist. "Be careful, alright? Keith is right, it's not the same without you here."

Tough Pokemon, huh? Maybe that was the Pokemon Ice said was guarding the gem! That meant I must've be close!

"Don't worry, guys," I said. "I'll be fine. I'm really close to getting that gem, I'll be home soon."

"You better be," Keith said. "I would never forgive you if you got hurt out there! So come back safe, okay?"

"I should probably go now. See you guys soon!" I said cheerfully.

"Bye!" Keith and Rhythmi said at the same time. My styler beeped as they hung up. I sighed. My friends were crazy.

"Are you ready, Pachirisu?" I said. "I'm definitely going to need your help on this one!" Pachirisu nodded, and leapt out of the jacket's pocket and onto the ground. "Let's do this!" I said, determined.

Pachirisu and I walked into the next cave together. It was actually quite beautiful. The floor was shining as though it were made of crystal, and there were six purple torches lining the sides of the cave, three on each side. In the back of the room was a dias made completely out of ice. Hovering above it was a shining blue crystal that was shaped like a teardrop. I assumed this was the Blue Gem. It actually existed! Yes!

I started to run over to the gem, but was stopped when I noticed something was off. The two torches in the back were suddenly illuminated with a blue flame. But what had caused them to light up? I walked back over to the torches, and the two in the middle lit up with the same blue light. What was going on here? This was really weird…

A few seconds after the ones in the middle were lit, the last two torches were burning. I took a step back. This was really freaking me out now. Suddenly, a Pokemon's cry echoed through the cave. I turned back to the dais in the back of the cave to see a Lucario standing in front of the gem. How did it get there? Why was it there? Was this the Pokemon Ice was talking about?

The Lucario ran over to me, ready to attack. It ran around me in circles, causing me to become dizzy. It finally stopped, and was standing in front of me. Everything was still a little wobbly after the Lucario had run around me. I literally couldn't move as the Lucario used some sort of attack and dragged me toward him. I hastily pulled out my styler, still a little bit discombobulated. It took me a while before I could actually concentrate on the capture. Luckily, the Lucario didn't seem to have too many attacks. And my styler didn't get too much damage. And Ice wasn't here to annoy me. And neither was Keith. So yeah, pretty easy capture. Especially with Pachirisu's help. I really didn't see why Ice made such a big deal about this Lucario. Maybe he just wanted to trick me into giving up on the gem…

The capture was over before I knew it. The Lucario took a step back from me and smiled. I returned the smile, glad that the Lucario trusted me. It walked over to the Blue Gem, and there was another blinding flash of light. Why was magic so blinding? It was really annoying. Anyway, when the light cleared, the glow around the Blue Gem was gone. Lucario gave a nod of his head and disappeared once again. I walked over to the gem and put it into my pocket. Finally, I got it! I found the mythical Blue Gem. And now I get to go home to my friends, leaving this frozen wasteland behind. I smiled as I started to walk out of the castle with Pachirisu right behind me.

**Man I really hate Ice. Con passion de fuego. **

**But I love Keith. He's just so amazing. And an idiot, but oh well.**

**I hope you enjoyed! Next update will be in a couple of days!**


	23. New Missions

**And we are back with another chapter! Yayyy. Oh man it's the weekend and I'm soooo bored. I really wish I had something to doooo! SO i write! Time well spent, i believe**

**Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"Sparkette! You're back!" Keith had been waiting outside of the Union, eager for my return. He ran over to me the second I hoped off the Staraptor that had taken me home.

"Hi, Keith!" I said. "I found the gem!"

"Really? That's awesome!" Keith said. "Professor Hastings is waiting for you! We should get going."

"Keith, wait," I said, as my friend started to run into the Union. "I need to give this back to you."

I took of his jacket, and handed it to him. "Oh right, that," he said. "Are you sure you don't want to hold onto it? You've already gotten a lot more use for it then I have."

"No, it's yours," I said. "But… thanks. It was freezing in the Hia Valley. I don't know what I would've done without it."

"Hey, it wasn't that big of a deal," Keith said. "I'm glad I was able to help, even if I wasn't there with you. Come on, we'd better hurry." Before I could say another word, Keith grabbed me and pulled me into the Union and up to the Operation Room.

"Welcome back, dear," Chairperson Erma said as we walked into the room. "Is your face red from frostbite?" My face was red? Funny, I didn't feel cold. My face actually felt kinda hot. "You poor dear. It must have been terribly cold."

"It wasn't too bad," I said. "I was warm enough. But anyway, I think I found what we were looking for."

I stepped forward a little bit and held out the Blue Gem. Professor Hastings stared at it in shock.

"Is… that's the Blue Gem?" he said. I nodded. "You've done very well! Good job! This is a huge achievement!"

"We'll look into the secrets that gem holds tomorrow," Chairperson Erma said. "Feel free to do whatever you want before bed."

"So Sparkette," Keith said. I turned to him. "Do you wanna go to the park or something? It's not that late yet."

"Maybe later, Keith," I said. "I want to talk to Rhythmi first. I should probably tell her about the Hia Valley."

"Oh, I wanna hear about it too!" Keith said, as we started to walk toward Rhythmi's work area. "Did anything interesting happen?"

"Well…" Should I tell them about Ice? He was kinda annoying. And creepy. I hate him. But they were my best friends… "I'll tell both you and Rhythmi. So just be patient."

"Fine," Keith sighed. "It was boring here without you, ya know."

"Hey, Sparkette!" Rhythmi said, running up to us. "I didn't know you got back!"

"Yeah, sorry I forgot to call when I left," I said. "I was kinda distracted after getting the Blue Gem."

"It's fine!" Rhythmi assured.

"Tell us all about the Hia Valley!" Keith said. "We're curious!"

"Okay," I said. "So I go to Hia Valley, then I save Murph's dad from a Dim Sun guy, he tells me about the woman who made Murph's pendant, so I go to see her. She told me she found the shard by Almia castle, so then I went to investigate. Some Dim Sun people were in there, so I knew I was in the right place. I defeated them, melted some ice, almost fell off of the floor sometimes, found more Dim Sun guys-"

"Wait a second," Keith said, cutting me off. "You fell off the floor?"

"I said almost," I said. "Anyway, then I met one of the Dim Sun leaders, Ice. He sent a Froslass at me, I caught it, Ice ran away, then I went to the next cave, you guys called me, I captured a Lucario and he gave me the Gem. Then I came home."

Rhythmi and Keith were staring at me open mouthed. "You met one of the leaders?" Keith said.

"What was he like?" Rhythmi asked.

Ugh. I really did not want to talk about Ice. "He's a jerk," I said.

"Yeah, well that's expected from a leader of an evil organization," Keith said. "Go into more detail, Sparkette! Come on!"

I sighed. I wasn't going to get out of this, was I? Oh well. "His name is Ice. He has spiky blue hair, and he is very obnoxious. And creepy. For one thing, he always calls me Sparky. I hate being called Sparky. Don't laugh, Keith. If you ever call me that I will hurt you. For another thing, he makes way too many ice puns. I got so sick of them. And other than that, he's just really annoying. Even more annoying than you, Keith."

"Wow, someone can be more annoying than Keith?" Rhythmi said. "That's amazing."

"Hey!" Keith protested. "I'm not that annoying!"

"Yes you are, Keith," I said. "So yeah, Ice is a jerk, and I do not want to meet the other two leaders."

"There are three leaders?" Rhythmi said.

I nodded. "I heard some Admins talking about them. I think they said their names are Lavana and Heath."

"Oh, Lavana is one of the leaders?" Keith said. "I've met her."

"What?" I said. "When?"

"She was that lady I battled at the Fiore Temple," Keith replied. "It was in the newspaper and everything. Didn't think she was that important, though."

"What's she like?" Rhythmi asked.

"She's really easy to annoy," Keith replied. "And she will get so mad at you if you annoy her. I saw her blow up at at least three people when I was at the temple. She's also just not a very pleasant person. Wouldn't really care if I never saw her again."

"So the only leader we don't know anything about is Heath," I said. "I wonder what he's like."

"Well, we'll probably find out eventually," Keith said. "It's not too important right now."

"Yeah," I said. "Right now we should probably get some sleep. I feel like tomorrow is going to be a long day."

"I agree with Sparkette!" Rhythmi said. "Things can only get crazier from here on out!"

Keith nodded. "Good night, guys," he said. "Sparkette, I'm glad you're back. Rhythmi and I really missed you."

Keith ran out of the Operation Room, leaving me alone with Rhythmi. I turned to leave as well, but Rhythmi stopped me.

"Hey, Sparkette," she said. "Have you seen this yet?" She dug into her uniform pocket and pulled out the newest edition of the Almia Times and handed it to me.

I gasped. Right on the front page, there were two pictures of Keith and I. One from Ranger School, and one from a few days ago. The Ranger School picture showed us sitting on the Pledge Stone after Outdoor Class, and the one from a few days ago was us racing home from the Chroma Highlands. It had an article on how the two new Top Rangers were classmates from Ranger School, and how we were the youngest Top Rangers ever.

"Where did they get these pictures?" I asked. I couldn't take my eyes off the newspaper. I couldn't take my eyes off Keith. He just looked so happy in the pictures. I couldn't believe I was the one who made him that happy. And the thing was, the feeling was mutual. Both of us were laughing, just enjoying the other person's company. I couldn't help but smile.

"Who knows?" Rhythmi said. "I think they're great pictures, though. You just look so... natural. Anyone who sees those pictures can see your… special relationship."

"Do you mind if I keep this?" I asked.

Rhythmi smiled. "I thought you might say that," she said. "Go ahead."

"Thanks, Rhythmi," I said. "I'm going to sleep. See you tomorrow!"

"Goodnight, Sparkette," Rhythmi said. I walked to my bedroom without another word, staring at the newspaper the entire way.

"Good morning, dear," Chairperson Erma said as I walked up the escalator to the third floor of the Union. "Did you sleep well?"

Honestly, not really. I was still thinking about what the other leaders were like. I was also staring at the newspaper. And the giant blue gem shining in my face wasn't really helping, either. But I didn't want to worry the chairperson, so I said, "Yep!"

"That's good," Erma replied. "You're going to need it. Anyway, today's the day! We finally get to test the Blue Gem's power! Escort me to the rooftop, please, dear."

I nodded, and walked over to the escalator after giving a quick little wave to Rhythmi. I hoped Keith was already on the roof, because I hadn't seen him all day.

This was the first time I had ever gone up to the roof. And it. Was. Awesome! It had a spectacular view of the Almia region, and a small little lake. There was a giant tree in the middle of the lake thingy. It had to be at least twenty feet tall! It had thick branches and bright green leaves. It was really a sight to see.

Keith, Murph, and Professor Hastings were already on the roof. They had also brought up the pedestal with the Dark Shard in it, and a second, empty pedestal. I ran to stand next to Keith, and Erma walked over to Hastings.

"Hey, Sparkette," Keith whispered.

"Hi," I said in the same hushed volume. "Are you ready for this?"

"Oh yes," Keith replied. "I hope it works."

"Me too!" I said. "Otherwise I would've gone to the Hia Valley for nothing."

"Are you two paying attention?" Professor Hastings snapped. Keith and I turned to him, as though we just remembered we weren't the only two people up here. Professor Hastings sighed. "I guess not. I'll start over, then. I've developed a special amplification system for this test. The system draws from the vitality of our Tree of Harmony." Tree of Harmony? Is that what this giant tree was? "Sparkette, would you be so kind as to place the Blue Stone on that dais there?"

"Sure, but what will that do?" I said.

"The goal is to project the Blue Gem's power throughout all Almia. That should render ineffective the blasted Gigaremo and the devious Miniremo systems," Professor Hastings replied. "Now hurry up, chop chop!"

I nodded, and walked up to the dais. I carefully placed the gem in the center, then ran back over to Keith. The gem hovered over the dais, and the Tree of Harmony started glowing. Yep. The giant tree was glowing. I had no idea what was going on at all. There was a blinding flash of blue light, and Rhythmi suddenly ran up from the third floor of the Union.

"Incoming report!" she said. "The Pokemon rampaging in Pueltown have settled down! They've returned to their usual selves! Oh… please wait. I'm receiving another report over the wireless system." She paused for a second. "Wow! There were Pokemon being forced to march in the Vien Forest. They've come to their senses! They seem to be free of control!"

"That's great!" I said. "The gem's actually doing something!"

"It's undoing the effects of the Dark Shards!" Keith said. "I can't believe it actually worked! This is awesome!"

"Well of course it works, you silly boy!" Professor Hastings exclaimed. "Why wouldn't it work? We read about it in a book! Incidentally… what is taking place with that Dark Shard there?"

Murph checked the meter on the dais. "Oh, it's working!" Murph said. "The Dark Shard's power has gone down! But… the power hasn't dropped to zero. It's not even close. It's gone down by a third, maybe? Is that a success?"

Suddenly, Linda ran onto the roof. "Guys, I'm getting some bad news!" she exclaimed. "There are still many Pokemon under control in the Vien Forest! Even worse, the Pokemon of Pueltown are starting to fall under hypnosis again!"

We all turned to Professor Hastings. "But… that's impossible!" he exclaimed. "Why isn't it working? Is the Blue Gem's power not enough? Its effect is incomplete? Is our plan a failure?"

Suddenly, Rhythmi started glowing. Oh great. Now it wasn't only Murph who glowed, it was my best friend. Brilliant. However, instead of glowing a light blue color, Rhythmi was a pale yellow.

"Wow…" Rhythmi said. "What's going on? It's so pretty!" There was another flash of light, and this time Linda started glowing. She was glowing in a bright red color.

"Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed. "My chest is shining, too!"

"Now what have we here?" Professor Hastings said. "You, shiney people! Stand closer to the Dark Shard! You too, Murph!"

The three nodded, and surrounded the dais. All three of them were glowing brightly now. "Oh, wow!" Murph exclaimed. "It's the brilliant shine of youth!" What did that have to do with anything?

There was another blinding flash of light. "It's getting brighter!" Rhythmi said. Keith and I were staring open mouthed at the scene in front of us. What was going on? And why was the Dark Shard clear all of a sudden? You could see right through it now.

"It's too bright!" Linda said. I had to agree with her on that. The light was so bright, it could probably be seen from Pueltown. Professor Hastings walked over to the dais.

"Oh, now what's this?" he said, inspecting the stone. "The Dark Shard is growing transparent! And the meter's dropped to zero this time, the way I'd hoped!"

"Rhythmi, Linda," I said. "Why are you glowing? Do you have a pendant like Murph's?"

Rhythmi nodded. "I got this necklace from Sven," she said. "It's a souvenir from the Haruba Desert." When did Sven go to the Haruba Desert? And why did he get Rhythmi a necklace?

"Marcus gave me my pendant," Linda said. "he said it's from Boyleland."

"This is crazy!" Keith said. "Look at what happened when the pendants were brought together! The Dim Sun goons in the Chroma Highlands said that transparent stones were useless! This is great!"

"It seems as though the three stones harmonized together to negate the power of darkness, I suspect," Professor Hastings said. He paced the roof, murmuring to himself. "That said, how do we proceed… I must have time!" He turned back to us. "I need to investigate matters." He then rushed down the escalator.

Chairperson Erma chuckled. "Looks like you have some free time!" Erma said, turning to Keith and I. "I would recommend staying close by, though. Who knows when the Professor will be done with his investigation? Rhythmi and Linda, you'd better get back to work." The two Operators nodded, and everyone left the roof, leaving Keith and I alone.

I plopped down onto the ground and Pachirisu came to sit on my lap. "Ugh!" I moaned. "I hate sitting around like this!"

"Me too," Keith said, sitting down next to me. Pachirisu ditched me to sit on his Buizel's head. "But there's nothing we can do about it, I guess. Chairperson Erma said to stay close."

"But close is boring!" I said. "I wanna go somewhere!"

"Well, how many times have you been up here?" Keith asked. "This is my first time. It's really cool."

"Yeah, I guess so," I said. "But I hope Professor Hastings finishes his investigation soon. I really want to get this mess over with soon. Maybe then life can go back to normal."

"Well, this is what we should consider normal for now," Keith said. "Don't worry too much, though. We'll beat Team Dim Sun soon enough."

"Maybe after we clear this mess up we can spend more time together," I said. "Like when we were back in Ranger School. We didn't have a care in the world back then."

"Yeah, those were the days," Keith said. "Having detention together after running in the hallways, Rhythmi always yelling at us for being idiots…" Keith sighed. "I miss that."

"Well, Rhythmi still yells at you for being an idiot," I said. "So at least that hasn't changed!"

"Hey!" Keith exclaimed, shoving me into our Pokemon.

I laughed. "Come on," I said. "You know it's true. You are an idiot, Keith."

"Only sometimes!" Keith said defensively.

"Sparkette, Keith!" a voice called. Keith and I turned to the escalator in shock to see Rhythmi standing there, smirking at us. "You're wanted in the Research Room. Professor Hastings has new Missions for you."

"Rhythmi!" Keith said. "How long have you been there?"

"Oh, long enough," she said. "Now get going! Come on, you can't spend the entire day up here!" I kinda wished we could've. It was nice to talk to Keith about something other than our jobs.

"Let's go, Keith," I said. "We shouldn't keep the Professor waiting."

Keith nodded, and leapt to his feet. He held out his hand, and pulled me up. "Rhythmi, are you coming?" he asked.

Rhythmi shook her head. "I can't," she replied. "But you two have fun!"

She ran down the escalator to get back to work. Keith and I followed her, but continued down to the Research Room.

"Hi Professor!" I said cheerfully as Keith and I walked through the door. "Rhythmi said you had Missions for us?"

"That's right," Professor Hastings replied. "According to Brighton's diary, the Tears of Princes can be obtained elsewhere. Old documents also hinted that the stones could be found away from the Hia Valley. The colored stones are also found in the Haruba Desert and Boyleland, but rarely. The pendants that Linda and Rhythmi had are probably made of the Tears of Princes. Sparkette, I'd like you to go to Boyleland. Search for the red crystal Linda's pendent presumably came from." I nodded, but I wasn't really eager to return to the volcano. It was way too hot. "Keith, you are to go to the Haruba Desert to investigate the yellow Tears of Princes." Keith nodded as well. "If either of you find the red or yellow crystal, secure it immediately. These gems are the most important thing in the universe right now. They are the key to bringing down Team Dim Sun! You must get these gems! Do not let anything distract you. And do not fail in your Missions!"

"We won't!" Keith and I said at the same time. Keith turned to me.

"Sparkette, want to walk to Pueltown together?" he asked. "We need to take a boat to get to our locations."

Um, actually I didn't. I had been to Boyleland before, and I could just fly there. But I didn't want to disappoint Keith. "Sure," I said. "Let's get going!"

We ran out of the Research Room together and down to the first floor of the Union. We ran down the grass path toward the park, and wasn't planning on stopping until, "Sparkette! Keith!" Tiffany from the Go-Rock Quads ran up to us. I'm guessing they were rehearsing in the park again.

"Hi Tiffany!" I said. "What's up?"

"Garrett and Billy sent me to see if you two were free to come to our concert in four days!" Tiffany said. "We would be honored to have you two!"

"Um, maybe," Keith said. "We'll do our best to make it, but we can't make any promises. Hey, is Clyde back yet? I want to meet him!"

Tiffany shook her head sadly. "Not yet," she said. "I hope he gets here soon. He's really cutting it close! I hope we have enough time to memorize the new lyrics he's writing us!"

"How bad were the old lyrics?" I asked.

Tiffany laughed. "I don't know. Clyde said they were so bad he didn't want us to be haunted by them," Tiffany replied. "His reaction to the lyrics was hilarious! I wish you guys could've seen it!"

Keith laughed. "I'm sure it was," he said.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but Keith and I have to go," I said. "We have some very important Missions to attend to."

"I understand," Tiffany said. "Being a Ranger is hard work, isn't it? I'll tell the others you say hi!"

"Please do!" I called, as Keith and I started to run off toward Pueltown.

"Bye!" Keith shouted. He turned to me. "I hope we can go. It sounds like a lot of fun."

"Maybe if we ask the Union ahead of time they'll let us go," I said. "But right now, we'd better focus on getting the gems."

"Right," Keith said. Then he grinned. "I bet I can find the Yellow Gem before you get the red one."

"Oh yeah?" I said. "Well I think you can't. So whoever gets back to the Union first wins."

"Deal," Keith said. "But… wins what?"

"We'll figure that out later," I said. "Right now we should get going." We had already arrived at the Sailor's Inn in Pueltown.

"Hey," Keith said, turning to me. "Be careful, alright?"

"I will," I said. "But don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Just don't do anything stupid without me, okay?"

"I won't. Good luck, Sparkette." Keith ran into the Sailor's Inn without another word. This was one competition that I wouldn't mind losing. As long as Keith got back safe I would be happy.

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**Next chapter in Boyleland Volcano again! Yayy**

**I hope you all enjoyed. Please review**

**Next update shall be soon **


	24. The Legand of the Red Gem

**So I seriously feel like I've been studying for a Percy Jackson quiz. My sister and I decided to write a story in the Percy Jackson world together (which I may or may not post on here) and I realized I have no idea what half of these monsters now. So for the past few days my friends have given me a crash course in Percy Jackson and I totally haven't been thinking about Pokemon. Oops. **

**Anyway, Read, Review, and enjoy!**

* * *

So I ended up flying to Boyleland, anyway. Captain Boyle wasn't even there. Luckily, there was a Staraptor right outside the Inn and I reached the volcanic island in no time. It was exactly as I remembered it. Same ridiculous heat, same rock ground, and even the same crazy elder! The elder was standing outside his house with his Mime Jr. If anyone on this island knew about the Tears of Princes, it would be him. Which was unfortunate, since I really didn't want to talk to him.

"Hi!" I called, running over to the elder. "Um, I was wondering if-"

"You scoundrel!" he shouted. What? "How dare you come back here after what you did to our Pokemon!" Umm, I rescued them. How is that a problem? The elder stormed into his house without another word.

"Wait!" I called, running after him. "I'm the Ranger who saved your Pokemon!"

I ran into the elder's house. He was glaring at me. "You!" he said. "Be gone at once! You've come to kidnap our Mime Jr. again, haven't you, you wretched Dim Sun!" Really? He thought I was from Team Dim Sun? How did he mix up black and purple with red and white?

"Grandpa!" the elder's granddaughter exclaimed. "That's not right, is it? Don't you remember her?"

"Sir, I'm the Pokemon Ranger who came to Boyleland a few weeks ago," I said. "I'm not from Team Dim Sun!"

"Oh?" the elder said. "A Ranger of Pokemon, you say?" I nodded. "Why yes, you are! I'm sorry. Anyone wearing a uniform looks like a Dim Sun to me these days."

"It's alright," I said. "I was wondering if you knew anything about the Tears of Princes, and the red prince."

"The red prince, eh?" the elder said. "I can't say I know anything about that."

"I heard that the stones have been found near the volcano here," I said. "But I've already been to the left side of the cave. Is there any chance I can investigate the right side? There might be something there."

"I can't make heads or tails of what you're saying, but I guess I can let you into the cave," the elder replied. "I'll open the gate to the right side of the cave for you."

"Thank you!" I said. Step one complete.

"Think nothing of it," the elder said. "The Pokemon of Boyleland are indebted to you" Oh good, he did remember who I was!

"I'll meet you by the cave," I said. "Thank you again!"

I ran out of the house without another word. The less I had to deal with the craziness of the elder, the better. I was not really looking forward to going into the volcano again. It was way too hot. I guess it's better than the Hia Valley, though.

The right side of the cave was a lot better protected than the left. Instead of some dude standing in front of it, there was a locked gate. I'm glad I decided to talk to the elder first.

"Ah, there you are, Ranger of Pokemon." I turned to see the elder walking up to me. "Sorry to make you wait. Let me open that door for you."

He pulled a key ring out from his pocket and walked over to the door. The key didn't do anything, and they door remained locked. Great, just great. Why did I trust this guy again?

The elder tried key after key, but nothing happened. The door was still locked. And I wasn't in the volcano yet. Who knows how far Keith might've gotten by now? I really hoped everything was going alright for him.

"And that one didn't work either…" the elder sighed. "How about you forget about the red stone! That solves everything!"

Give up? No way! "I can't leave until I get that gem!" I said. "It's very important."

"I'm sorry, Ranger of Pokemon," the elder said. "But I don't have the key."

"Grandpa!" The elder's granddaughter? What was she doing here? The girl ran over to us, carrying some sort of necklace thingy. "The key to the padlock is right here! It was on a string around Mime Jr.'s neck!" Good. I really needed to get into this cave. She handed the string to the elder.

"Yes!" the elder exclaimed. "That's it!"

"I'm sorry about this, Ranger," the girl said. "This is the right key. I promise."

"Thank you," I said. "You have no idea how important this gem is!"

There was a small click. The elder had unlocked the door. Finally. "Ah, there we go," he said. "No trouble to open at all!" Sure… no trouble… "Be careful in there, Ranger of Pokemon."

The elder and his granddaughter walked back toward their house. I turned to the cave. "Pachirisu, I don't envy your fur at all," I said, as we walked into the cave. "It's way too hot here." Pachirisu nodded. She was not enjoying this either. I was kinda missing the Hia Valley now…

The right side of the cave was even warmer than the left. It was ridiculously hot, and parts of the ground were covered in magma. And there weren't any Drifloon or anything to carry me across. Now what?

My styler suddenly started beeping. "Voicemail, Voicemail!" Wendy? "Hey, Sparkette! Rhythmi told me you're in the Boyle Volcano."

"Yup!" I said. "And you will never believe this, but it's really hot in here."

Wendy laughed. "I'll bet!" she said. "Anyway, I wanted to give you some advice. I've been to the Boyle Volcano hundreds of times, and you might want to capture some Torkoal. They can swim on magma."

"How can they do that without getting hurt?" I asked.

"They're fire types, so they'll be happy to help you!" Wendy said, cheerfully. "Good luck finding that gem!"

"Thanks, Wendy," I said. "So what are you up to?"

Wendy sighed. "Nothing much. Sven ditched me for something. We were supposed to go patrolling together today, but the cowboy does what the cowboy wants, I guess."

"Oh… I'm sorry," I said, kind of awkwardly.

Wendy laughed. "It's fine. It must be weird for you, too. Separated from Keith."

"What?" I said. Why would Keith make a difference? "No, I'm fine. We've been separated for much longer than one day."

Wendy sighed. "Wow, Rhythmi was certainly right about you."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"If you don't know, then I'm not saying," Wendy said. "Oh, and just a fair warning, Professor Hastings is already getting impatient for your return. So good luck with that."

I laughed. "Talk to you later, Wendy!" I said. My styler beeped once again as Wendy hung up. Slightly weird conversation, but whatever.

Surfing on a Torkoal wasn't really that exciting. The Pokemon moved very slowly, and it was way too hot in this volcano. It was almost making me miss the temperatures of the Hia Valley. Almost.

The Torkoal carried Pachirisu and I across the magma and into the other side of the cave. There was nothing really too exciting on this side, just a Drifloon that took me up to the next level. Where it was even warmer. Ugh. Science, why were you working against me? Why does heat have to rise?

Suddenly, Pachirisu ran over to a little opening on the right side of the cave. She let out her cry and ran through it. I followed her, to be greeted by a gust of cool air. The opening lead to a small little cliff overlooking the ocean. There were a few Pelipper flying around, and a female Dim Sun grunt was standing in the middle of the cliff. Wait, what? How did she get there? And I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever seen a female grunt.

The girl seemed equally surprised to see me. "A Ranger?" she said in an obnoxious high-pitched voice. "Why did a Ranger come around when I'm waiting for Lavana?" Lavana… that was one of the other leaders! What was she doing here? "Was there a communication mix-up?" The girl pulled out a Miniremo and pushed a few keys. "Chatots! Attack!"

Chatots? Really? In a way, they suited the grunt. Annoying to listen to! I captured the five bird Pokemon easily, with some help from Pachirisu, and the Miniremo exploded.

"You meanie!" the girl whined. "I'm telling Lavana!" Spoken like a true four-year old. The girl ran back into the volcano. I started to run after her, but I stopped when my styler started beeping again.

"Voicemail, Voicemail!" Wendy again.

"Hi, Wendy!" I said. "What's up?"

"It slipped my mind earlier, but you should probably capture some water type Pokemon," Wendy said.

"There are some Pelipper out here," I said. "Would that work?"

"Perfect," Wendy said. "I gotta go. Some Pokemon rampaging in Pueltown. Good luck, Sparkette!"

The styler beeped once again. Lucky Wendy. Getting to work somewhere with a normal temperature. I decided to follow Wendy's advice, and I captured the three Pelipper. I really hoped it would be enough, I did not want to have to come back here.

"Are you ready to go back inside, Pachirisu?" I asked. The Pokemon nodded reluctantly, and we walked back into the volcano. And it felt even warmer than before. Great, just great. More heat. I felt really bad for Pachirisu, since she had fur. So I decided to let her ride on my shoulders. Just this once, though.

I made my way through the volcano, climbing over rocks and stuff like that, until I reached a natural staircase. There was one small problem, though. The stairs were literally on fire. I was really glad I captured the Pelipper, since one of them was able to put out the fire easily.

But this is where the volcano got interesting! There were flame spurts erupting from the ground, that went on and off at certain times. Luckily, I was able to squeeze past them without getting burned. There were also pokemon trying to headbutt me into flames, and that wasn't really helpful. It actually took a lot of patience to avoid them. Good thing Keith wasn't sent here!

When I got to the end of the fire path, I found two female grunts standing in the middle of the cave. "This wall of fire is impossible it put out!" one of them exclaimed. "Not unless you call the fire brigade or catch the right water Pokemon!"

"My makeup is ruined from sweating!" the other exclaimed. Okay, ew. Did not need to know that. I mean, sure it was hot, but still.

"Mine too!" the first agreed. "Let's just scoot away and fix our faces! Lavana won't know!" Their voices were really getting on my nerves. They were way too girly.

"Is it okay if I know?" I asked.

The two girls turned to me in shock. One of them let out a little gasp. They were too girly! It was driving me insane! "A Ranger! What are you doing here?"

"No!" the other one cried. I seriously thought my ears were going to die. Their voices were so high-pitched, I was surprised I could even hear them. "She's seen us without our makeup on!"

"She's not getting away with this!" the first said. Both of the girls pulled out a Miniremo unit. They sent three Bagon and a Shelgon on me. At least there wasn't a Salamence…

The Pokemon were really difficult to capture due to their many headbutts. I decided to take care of the Bagon first, and then take on the Shelgon. I got a lot of damage dealt on my styler, but it was okay. I had a Raichu with me, so it was all good.

The Miniremo units exploded as the four Pokemon ran away. "Both my makeup and my pride are in tatters…" one of the girls said.

"LAVANA!" the other shouted. Ow… "A Ranger's messing with us!"

They ran down the path and into the next section of the volcano. "Pachirisu, do you still have your hearing?" I said. The Pokemon nodded. "Good. Cause I'm not sure I do."

We continued to run deeper into the cave. We seemed to be getting closer to the middle of the volcano, because it was getting a lot hotter. And it was awful. There were also a lot more flame spurts, and rocks falling from the ceiling. Really not fun. I wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible. I also had to ride a Torkoal again, which wasn't really helping the heat.

Eventually, I made my way up to a third level of the volcano thanks to the help of a Drifblim. I didn't even take a step onto the next path when my styler started beeping.

"Voicemail, Voicemail!" Rhythmi this time. "How's your Mission going, Sparkette?"

"It's fine," I said. "I think I'm getting close to the gem! At least, I hope I am. It's way too hot in this place."

"I think you're getting close as well!" Rhythmi said. "We're getting indications that a tough Pokemon is ahead of you. The last time that happened was right before you found the Blue Gem!"

"So I guess there's a Pokemon guarding this one as well," I said. "At least we know it's actually here now. Oh, have you gotten any word from Keith yet? How is he doing?"

"He's in the Haruba Desert now," Rhythmi said. "But he's having a little bit of trouble with getting information on the gem. But I wouldn't worry about him too much. Just worry about getting the Red Gem."

"Right," I said. "Thanks, Rhythmi! I'll see you soon, I hope! Tell Keith I say hi if he calls again."

"Will do!" Rhythmi said. "Bye!"

My styler beeped again as Rhythmi hung up. I started to walk down the path once again, but was stopped by a shrill voice running through the air.

"What is going on here?" the voice shouted. Suddenly, three girls came running down the path. Two of them were grunts, and the third had pink hair, a short pink skirt, a pink sports top, long pink gloves, and pink boots. She seemed to be around Ice's age, maybe even a little bit older. I gasped. It was the woman Keith fought at Fiore Temple, the second leader of Team Dim Sun, Lavana.

They stopped right in front of me. Lavana smirked when she saw me. "Oh, now what's this?" she said. "How did a lowly Ranger make it this far?"

"I think the Ranger had someone open the door for her," one of the grunts said. "This Ranger's considered a hero in Boyleland for saving the Pokemon from our ship."

"What about you?" I said. "How did you get in here?"

"Oh, easy," Lavana said. "I broke into the elder's house and made a copy of that key. Allow me to introduce myself." She did a small little twirl and flipped her hair. "My name is Lavana! I am one of the Sinis Trio, the Big Boss's favorites! I'm a woman of fiery passion, just like this very volcano." So far she was better than Ice. At least she wasn't a creep.

One of the grunts stepped forward. "And flanking her are Lavana's personal hench persons!"

The other grunt stepped forward. "The Dim Sun Crimson Unit!"

Lavana shoved the two girls behind her. "Don't steal the spotlight!" she hissed. "I've heard about you from Ice, Sparkette. You're looking for the Red Gem too, aren't you? It's such a shame there's only one."

"Then I think you should leave," I said.

"HA! No," Lavana said. She pulled out a Miniremo, and flipped her hair again. Ugh, she was getting really annoying. "You're getting me fired up, Ranger!" she shouted. "You are so going down!"

She tapped a few keys on the Miniremo, and an Infernape leapt out from the lava. Lava went flying everywhere, and I barely avoided getting burned. Lavana's Infernape was really hard to capture. He liked to explode a lot, and exploding was not good for your health. Or your styler. Explosions were not fun.

Other than that, his attacks were pretty easy to avoid. So he wasn't too hard to capture. He was definitely easier than Ice's Froslass, anyway. A few minutes later, the Infernape dove back into the lava, and the Miniremo exploded. Lavana took a step back from me.

"What's wrong, Lavana?" I taunted. "Can't take the heat?"

Lavana glared at me. "Don't think your problems are solved by defeating me!" she said. "There's still the Pokemon guarding the gem! You'll never get it!"

The three girls shoved me aside and ran out of the cave. I was glad they left, they were way too obnoxious. I see what Keith meant by unpleasant. "You ready to get this over with, Pachirisu?" I said. "Cause I know I am. I'm so sick of this volcano."

To answer my question, Pachirisu started running down the path that lead to the center of the volcano. Finally, we were almost at the Red Gem. I was really sick of this place. I hoped Keith was having a better time at the desert…

After dodging some falling rocks, flame spurts, and Pokemon, Pachirisu and I finally reached a large opening in the wall. This had to be where the gem was. We walked inside to find a flame shaped gem hovering above a dais in the back of the cave. Finally, we found it. The Red Gem. Not wanting to stay here any longer, I started to walk toward it. As soon as I got close to the gem, the ground started shaking. Columns of steam rose up next to me, causing the room to become even warmer than it was before. Another pair of steam columns erupted, along with a fountain of lava from the lake. Suddenly, a giant red-brown Pokemon jumped out from the lava and landed in front of the Red Gem.

The legendary Pokemon Heatran.

The giant Pokemon let out its cry and charged at me. I hastily readied my styler, and started one of the most annoying captures in my life.

The capture didn't start out too badly. Heatran liked to explode as well, but I had gotten used to that by now. For a while, he basically had the same attacks as Lavana's Infernape. But then came the lava puddles. I think I'm going to have nightmares about those stupid lava puddles. There were other Pokemon that could leave damaging substances on the ground, but they usually disappeared after a few minutes. These lava puddles never went away. And there were three of them. These stupid puddles made the capture way harder than it should have been. Even Pachirisu couldn't do anything to stop Heatran from creating them. Those puddles are probably why my styler almost broke. They were really annoying.

Anyway, after almost ten minutes I finally managed to capture the Heatran. The room stopped erupting, and the volcano seemed to cool down a little bit. Heatran let out a deafening cry and the light around the Red Gem faded. He then jumped back into the lava, allowing me to take the gem. I walked over to the dais and carelessly shoved the gem into my pocket. Mission Clear.

"Come on, Pachirisu," I said. "Let's go home."

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**Guys you know what's coming up, right? If you played the games you should know what I'm talking about and I can't deal with this i need Keith. **

**I hope you enjoyed! Please review! Whether you liked it or not!**


	25. New Day, new missions

**Hi guys! So it hasn't technically been two days since the last update but it's almost midnight and I'm bored so here you go!**

**Oh, and I realized earlier there aren't too many chapters left in Shadows of Almia, and I need to start writing again. I have a list of ideas on my profile, and if there's anything in particular you guys want to read I can work on it. Either leave a review with your suggestion or PM me.**

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

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"What? Keith isn't back yet?"

I was standing with Rhythmi in the middle of the second floor of the Ranger Union. I had just flown home from Boyleland.

"I'm sorry to say he isn't," Rhythmi said.

"I hope nothing happened!" I said.

Rhythmi laughed. "Come on," she said. "You know Keith. He'll be fine. Besides, he just called us a few minutes ago."

"Really?" I said. "Well, why didn't you say so? What did he say?"

"He said he finally found out the location of the Yellow Gem, and is on his way there now," Rhythmi said. "So see? Absolutely nothing is wrong. Professor Hastings and Chairperson Erma are waiting for you upstairs. We'd better get going."

"Right," I said. I walked up the escalator with Rhythmi and entered the Operation Room. Chairperson Erma and Professor Hastings were standing in the middle of the room, waiting for my return.

"Welcome back, dear," Chairperson Erma said. "Another job well done."

"So, the Red Gem was, indeed, inside the Boyle Volcano," Professor Hastings said. I nodded, pulling the stone out of my pocket. "Well done, Sparkette!"

"You should get some rest, dear," Chairperson Erma said. "I'm sure tomorrow will be another long day for you."

"No," I said. "I want to stay up until Keith gets back."

"Don't worry about Keith," Professor Hastings said. "He is also a Top Ranger, you know."

"How about this," Chairperson Erma said. "If Keith comes back in the middle of the night, we'll send someone to get you. You really need your sleep, dear."

I sighed. This was their way of saying, no, don't be stupid, go to bed. So I really had no choice. "Fine," I sighed. "I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

Keith didn't come back all night. He still wasn't back by the time I woke up the next morning. I was really starting to get worried now.

"Rhythmi!" I said. "Any word from Keith yet?"

"Not yet," Rhythmi replied. She sounded a little worried as well. "But it's still pretty early. Give him some time. Anyway, what are you doing down here? Chairperson Erma and Professor Hastings are waiting for you on the roof!"

Right. I actually had something important I needed to do today. "Oops," I said. "Forgot about that. I'll go up now."

"I'll tell you if Keith calls!" Rhythmi shouted as I ran up to the roof. Chairperson Erma and the professor were already up there. Even Murph was there before me. That was a little bit disappointing.

"Sparkette!" Professor Hastings cried when I ran onto the roof. "What took you so long?"

"Don't be so hard on the poor girl!" Chairperson Erma scolded. "She's been through a lot. Sparkette, please place the Red Gem on the dais."

I nodded, and ran over to the three pedestals. I placed the Red Gem on the one on the right. The reaction was the same as it was with the Blue Gem, but this time the tree shone a bright red color.

"That leaves only the Yellow Gem," Professor Hastings said. "There's nothing to do now but impatiently await Keith's return."

"Sparkette!" Rhythmi cried, running up to the rooftop. "Professor! Chairperson Erma! We just got a report from Keith!"

"Really?" I said. "What did he say?"

"He said that he's having some trouble getting through the Hippowdon Temple," Rhythmi said. "But, there's no need for worry, he added."

Oh no. "I'm going to the Haruba Desert," I declared. "I'm going to look for Keith."

"Sparkette, I cannot permit that," Professor Hastings said. "We need you here, just in case anything happens."

"Why do you need me?" I demanded. "My friend could be in trouble! Can't you get Wendy or Sven to stay here?"

"Wendy's busy on another Mission, and we don't even know where Sven is," Professor Hastings replied calmly. Wow, Wendy was right. The cowboy disappeared. "And Keith is in the Haruba Desert. So we need you to stay here."

"Well, find someone else to watch the Union," I said. "I'm going after Keith and there is nothing you can do to stop me."

I ran off of the roof without another word. Surprisingly, I managed to make it all the way out of the Union before my next distraction.

"Sparkette! Wait a second!" Rhythmi was running out of the Union. "I need to tell you something important!"

I turned to her. "What do you need to tell me?" I said, bitterly. "That Professor Hastings sent you to drag me back into the Union?"

"That's not it!" Rhythmi said. "Well, that's technically why I'm here. But that's not what I wanted to say. And I'm not going to drag you back. I wanted to tell you that Chairperson Erma and I are going to try to convince the Professor to approve of you going to look for Keith. So don't worry. We'll figure something out. Honestly, I'm a little bit worried about Keith as well."

"Thanks, Rhythmi," I said. "And don't worry about Keith. I will find him."

"I know," she said. "Because he would do the same for you. Now get going! Find that idiot before something happens to him!"

"I will," I said. "Call me if anything happens, all right?"

Rhythmi nodded. "Of course I will!" she said. "Now go! We'll make sure we clear this up before you get back!" Rhythmi turned, and ran back into the Union.

"Rhythmi… thank you," I said. "Pachirisu, let's go to the desert!"

I think Keith got to the Haruba Desert by taking a boat. I technically could have flown to Pueltown, but I wasn't really thinking straight. I honestly couldn't think straight. The only thing on my mind right now was Keith. I really hoped he was okay…

"Pokemon a go-go!" Oh, I guess the Go-Rock Quads were rehearsing. Maybe I should stay for a little bit. It might help me clear my mind.

I ran up to stand in the back of the crowd at the bandstand. Billy pulled out his bass and did a crazy bass solo. "Hey, people, thanks for the turnout!" he said. "And this is only a rehearsal! I have good news to share with you! Clyde's returned to the Go-Rock Quads!" Finally!

A woman in the front row cheered loudly. "Yay Billy!" she said.

"They're finally back as a four piece band!" the man next to her said.

Garrett did his guitar solo. "The Go-Rock Quads' Clyde has returned with new lyrics for the Almia Region!"

The third boy on the stage, who I assumed was Clyde, did a drum solo. "Yo, music fans!" he said. "A cure for your worries! I had to cool my head after getting sick from the lyrics provided by Altru Inc. But hey, hey, I'm back and better than ever! I met this old lady in Pueltown, and she told me this awesome fairy tale! That was the inspiration I needed! I wrote this fantastic song about it!"

"But you'll need to wait to hear the full song!" Tiffany said. "It's called the Song of Vantonage! We can't wait for you to hear it!" Vantonage… where had I heard that before?

"You have to keep this a secret, though!" Garrett said. "Especially from Altru's VIPs! That's a promise to keep!" Oh, don't worry. I wouldn't want to talk to Altru's VIPs anyway. Unless Isaac counted as a VIP. Him I wouldn't mind talking to.

Suddenly, the entire crowd gasped. Blake Hall was walking down the path, coming toward the bandstand. Oh no. Time for me to leave!

I started to exit the bandstand, but Brook, the pink haired bridge operator, stopped me. "You might want to hear this, Ranger," he said. "So stick around."

Great. Now I couldn't leave. Wheeler walked through the crowd, clearing the way for Blake. "I'm so sorry to disturb you when you're clearly enjoying yourself," Wheeler said. "Mr. Blake Hall, the magnificent president of glorious Altru Inc, will now take the stage. President Hall wishes to deliver what will surely be a historic speech."

Did I really have to stay? I did not really want to hear this. "Now, please, everyone," Wheeler continued. "Clear the way please."

Everyone automatically ran to stand on the sides of the bandstand. Well, Brook had to drag me, but oh well. Wheeler walked up to the Go-Rock Quads. "Clear the way, please," Wheeler said.

"What's this all about?" Clyde said, crossing his arms. "No one said anything about this."

"Oh, I do apologize," Wheeler said, although he didn't really sound like he meant it. "We would just like a little bit of time."

"Well, alright then…" Clyde said. He and his siblings stepped back to stand on the sides of the bandstand. Two Altru employees walked through the crowd. Each one of them went to stand on opposite sides of the bandstand.

"Have you memorized the lyrics our president wrote specially for you?" the male employee asked.

"Um…" Garrett said. "The Dream Energy, was it? Yeah, we've got it memorized, absolutely."

The employee walked onto the stage. "You don't know how lucky you are," the female employee said. "You get to sing our new image song."

"Uh, well, thanks for that," Tiffany said. The female employee walked onto the stage as well. A few seconds later, Blake Hall walked onto the stage. I know I was probably imagining it, but I'm pretty sure Blake flashed me a smile on his way up.

"Greetings, ladies and gentleman!" Wheeler said. "I present to you today none other than President Blake Hall of Altru Inc! He has graciously taken the time so that he may talk to you in person."

"Wheeler…" Blake said. "Stand aside."

Wheeler jumped. "I- I do beg your pardon, sir!" he said. He ran to stand next to Tiffany. I kinda felt bad for her… "And now, I humbly do present the president of Altru Inc, Mr. Blake Hall."

"Ah, good day, ladies and gentleman," he said. "I'm Blake Hall, and I'm the president of Altru Inc. Our history is the history of Almia. Altru has grown alongside you. Our partnership with you, fellow citizens, will soon reach seventy years. It's true, our seventieth anniversary since founding will soon be upon us. On that day, to commemorate Altru's birthday, I will reveal a secret to you. A new dream energy that will do away with our thirst for oil once and for all! It is clean, efficient, and effectively limitless in supply. Truly, it is the energy of dreams! I assure you it will be exciting!"

There was a long pause. No one knew how to react to Blake's speech. Wheeler noticed the silence, and started cheering as loud as he could. Blake smiled, satisfied.

"I, Blake Hall, hereby promise you a bright future for the Almia Region!" Blake continued. "On Altru's birthday, we have planned a massive commemorative event! I hope to see you all there!"

Blake Hall did a little bow, then walked off the stage. "I especially hope to see you there, Ranger," he whispered as he walked past me. Wait, what? I stared at him as he walked away, followed by his assistants. Did Blake actually say something to me? Or was I imagining it? I honestly hoped I was imagining it.

But now wasn't the time to think about that. I needed to go to the Haruba Desert. Keith needed me. But of course, I had no such luck. The four members of the Go-Rock Quads were walking up to me.

"Sparkette!" Tiffany said. "No Keith today?"

"Umm, he was busy," I said slowly. "And I should probably get going now, too. There's something very important I need to do. Sorry I can't stay to watch your rehearsal."

"We understand," Garrett said. "We probably weren't going to rehearse anymore, anyway."

"Mr. Hall really killed the mood," Billy said. Yeah, he kinda did. I did not like that man.

"So you're the Ranger I've heard so much about," Clyde said. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Clyde," I said. "But I really need to go now. I'm sorry."

I ran out of the park before they could stop me. I heard them talking about me as I left, but I wasn't really that interested in what they were saying. I think they also mentioned Keith's name.

Pachirisu and I ran all the way to the Pueltown port. We walked into the sailor's inn, and I called, "Hello? Is there anyone who can give me a ride to the Haruba Desert?"

A man wearing a yellow sailor suit stood up from the table. "I can take ye," he said. "We'll get there in no time on the S.S. Haruba. Come with me."

I followed the sailor out of a door in the back of the inn. We walked along the dock, and we stopped at a small motor boat. Pachirisu and I climbed onto the boat, followed by the captain. I sat down on one of the seats, and Pachirisu sat on my lap. A few moments later, the boat started moving. The boat moved pretty quickly, so it shouldn't take too long to get to the desert. Which was good, because I needed to find Keith. And get back to the Union before Professor Hastings gets too mad.

Unfortunately, my good luck didn't last long. A few minutes into the ride, a giant column of water erupted from the ocean, nearly hitting the boat. The boat skidded to a stop, and we ended up over a darker patch of water.

"What was that?" I asked, as the captain emerged from the engine room.

"I don't know," he admitted. Another pillar of water shot up from somewhere under the surface. "But it's not safe to continue until the waters die down." Well, I needed to continue now.

"I'm going to go check it out," I said, pulling on my micro aqualung. "Maybe I can stop the eruptions."

"Wait, you can't be serious about going down there!" the captain said.

"Yes, I can. I have a very important mission in the Haruba Desert, and the sooner the eruptions stop the sooner we can get there, right?" I replied.

The captain sighed. "I guess I can't stop you," he said. "Just be careful, Ranger."

"I will," I said. "Can you watch my Pachirisu? I'll be back soon." I hoped I would, anyway. Before the captain or Pachirisu could complain, I dived into the ocean.

The Almia Sea was usually very peaceful. Note how I say usually. Right now, it seemed like the entire ocean was shaking. A loud roar was reverberating through the waves. Was that a Pokemon's cry? If so, what Pokemon was it? I swam through the reefs, searching for what could've made the cry.

After a few minutes of swimming, I finally found it. A Wailord was pinned down to a reef by some machine thingys. The Pokemon was clearly suffering. A Wailmer was swimming next to it. I assumed they were related or something, because the Wailmer was obviously worried about the Wailord.

I needed to help that Wailord. Team Dim Sun must be behind this. Keith would have to wait. Right now, this Wailord needed my help. Keith would be alright until after I rescued the Wailord. He would have to be.

First things first, I needed to destroy the machines. I pointed my styler at the nearest machine. A crush field move. Where was I going to find a Pokemon like that?

I started to swim back toward the place where I dived down from the surface. On the way, I found a Huntail. Maybe it could break the machine! I captured it without too much difficulty. Underwater captures were harder than normal captures, because of science and stuff. It was just harder to move your arm.

But anyway, I was right! The Huntail was able to break the machine! But even after I broke it, the Wailord still wasn't free. How many of these things were there?

Suddenly, a Dim Sun minion came swimming through the pipe. "But you know?" he said. "Is that Wailord going to really replace our cargo ship?" Really? That's why they were trying to capture a Wailord? Why did they even think that would work?

"I don't think a Pokemon can replace a ship," I said, swimming over to the minion. He turned to me in shock

"What?" he said. "A Pokemon Ranger? And the Capture Machine is wrecked, too!" So that's what those things were called! The minion pulled out a Miniremo. I was surprised they still worked underwater. Whoever invented these things must be really smart. Shame he was wasting his abilities on these things…

The minion pushed a few keys on the Miniremo and sent two Horsea and a Seadra on me. Ugh. This is not going to be fun. I captured the Pokemon with some difficulty, but still managed to destroy the Miniremo.

"I work best in water…" the minion said. "What am I supposed to do if I can't even win in my element?"

"How about go home?" I said. "That would be good!"

The minion glared at me as he swam back through the tube. I followed him to find another Capture Machine. This one was on the other side of some currents, and there was a female minion guarding it. Maybe this was going to take longer than I hoped… Sorry, Keith. But I needed to rescue the Wailord first.

I swam through the currents, captured another Huntail, and finally reached the Minion. "Gack!" she said. "What's a Ranger doing here? Are you going to interfere?"

"That depends on what your definition of interfere is," I said. "But I do intend to rescue that Wailord!"

"That's interfering if you ask me!" the minion said. She pushed a few keys on her Miniremo, and soon I was in a capture with four Finneon. They were easier to capture than the Pokemon the first minion sent at me, and the girl's Miniremo had exploded in no time. I was surprised they could still explode underwater. How did that even work?

"Bleh!" the girl exclaimed. "It's salty! I swallowed a mouthful of seawater, and it's all your fault!"

She swam away as fast as she could, leaving the Capture Machine unprotected. I didn't understand how her swallowing seawater was my fault, but oh least she left. I destroyed the second Capture Machine easily, but the Wailord still couldn't budge. This was getting really annoying.

I continued to swim through the reef, stopping to capture a Mantine on the way, until I reached a long pipe. Floating outside of it was another Dim Sun minion, this time male. He already had a Miniremo out, and in front of him were three Starmie. Guess that was my next capture!

"Hi there, Ranger!" the minion said cheerfully.

"Hello!" I replied. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much," he said. "What are you doing here? Did you come along to help us move the Wailord? Well, your assistance isn't needed! Starmie'll take care of things!" The minion pushed a few keys on his Miniremo and the Starmie charged at me. They were pretty annoying to capture, instead of shooting bubbles at me they shot plasma orbs. Kinda hard to dodge when you're underwater.

It took me a while, but I eventually managed to capture the three Starmie, causing the Miniremo to explode.

"I might have lost that battle, but you can't beat me in swimming on a Mantine!" the minion said. "If you can't get around the Qwilfish while riding a Mantine, you can go home now!" Could I go to the Haruba Desert now? Cause that's where I really wanted to be.

The minion swam through the pipe, and I followed him. It was a good thing I captured a Mantine earlier, because without it there would be no way to get through the next area. I hopped onto the Mantine, and carefully made my way through the reefs. It was way harder than it should have been, because there were a bunch of Qwilfish lining the edges of the reefs. There were also a lot of currents that made it hard to control the Mantine. It took a few minutes to get to the other side of the chasm, but I eventually made it.

I swam through another pipe to find the Dim Sun minion from earlier floating there. "Hello!" I said, cheerfully. He turned to me in shock.

"What?" he said. "You made it though riding a Mantine? You caught up without using a Miniremo?"

"Yup!" I said.

"Unbelieveable!" the minion exclaimed. "I know when I can't win! Bye!"

"Bye-bye!" I called, as the minion swam away. The next Capture Machine was on the other side of a reef. I swam around it, only stopping once to capture a third Huntail. This Capture Machine had a metal gate blocking it. I had to capture a Starmie to break it. I swam toward the Capture Machine, only to find another minion guarding it. This guy also had a Miniremo.

The minion stared at me, then gasped. "Wait! Are you that Ranger from the Cargo Ship?" he asked.

"Yes, I am," I said. "Why? Were you there?"

"Actually I was!" the minion replied. "When you sunk our ship, the boss saw how well I swam and put me on the Marine Unit! I miss life on the land! It's all your fault I have to do this!"

"What, it's my fault you're a good swimmer?" I said. "I really don't understand how that adds up."

"Well, it makes sense to me!" the minion said. "And I'm going to give you payback for it!"

He pushed a few keys on his Miniremo, and I was attacked by a Huntail and a pink Pokemon. I later learned this was called a Gorebyss. I captured the two Pokemon, Miniremo go boom, minion runs away, I destroy the machine. This was really getting repetitive... I looked up at the Wailord. Only one more beam was pinning it down to the reef. That must mean there was only one more Capture Machine to destroy. One more machine until I could find Keith.

I swam through another pipe to find the last Capture Machine. This one was also guarded by a minion. He had a Seadra next to him.

"Hello, Ranger!" he said. "I've been waiting for you!"

"I can see that," I said. "Look, can we just get this over with? There's something else I need to do today, and it's very important to me."

"So I'm not important?" the minion demanded. I shook my head. No one was as important to me as Keith was. The minion sighed. "Yeah, I'm really not. Oh well. You do realize if you take down this Capture Machine, the Wailord will go on a rampage. Are you still going to help it?"

"Of course I am!" I said. "I'm a Pokemon Ranger! If a Pokemon needs my help, then I need to help it. No matter what."

"Wow, I just asked if you were going to help it," he said. "I didn't need your life story." I laughed feebly. "Anyway, you forced me into doing this!" He pushed a few keys on the Miniremo, and the Seadra charged at me.

The Seadra was the hardest thing I ever captured underwater. It attacked by blowing bubbles, and surprisingly they did a lot of damage. I didn't know bubbles could hurt so much. It took a while, but I finally managed to capture the Seadra. It ran away, and the Miniremo exploded.

"How am I supposed to explain this to my boss?" the minion mused as he swam away. "The sea was too salty isn't a good excuse…"

I had to go back through the pipe again to catch a Huntail, but I then destroyed the final Capture Machine. I swam over to where I first found the Wailord. It was now hovering above the reef, and was no longer suffering. It was also not rampaging, which was good. The Wailmer seemed to be happy that the Wailord was free. But now that I got that dealt with, I could go to the Haruba Desert. I could go find Keith.

I turned to swim back to the boat, but was stopped when I swam into one of the Dim Sun minions from earlier. All five of them were there this time. I gasped, backing up toward the Wailord.

"Hey, you no-good do-gooder Ranger!" the minion I ran into, the female, said. "We're going to be in a heap of trouble, no thanks to you!"

"So we'll just have to improvise!" one of the males said. "We'll try to convince that guy this Wailmer is the one! He'd make a great Wailord mini!" Wailord mini? What kind of idiot would believe that story? Actually, Keith probably would…

Suddenly, two of the minions swam over to me and grabbed my arms. "Hey!" I shouted, struggling to break free. "What are you doing? Let me go!"

"Sorry, Ranger," the girl minion said as the other two boys grabbed the Wailmer and took it off somewhere. No, no, no, don't take the Wailmer! I wanted to help it, but I couldn't escape the grasp of the two minions. "But we can't have anyone interfering with our plans." The Wailmer had been taken away, and I couldn't help it. What kind of a Pokemon Ranger was I if I couldn't rescue a Wailmer?

After giving the people with the Wailmer a head start, the two guys that were keeping me restrained released me and swam after them.

"Hey!" I called, starting to swim after the minions. "Come back here!"

I was stopped when Wailord let out a roar. The Wailord swam underneath me and started to carry me up to the surface. When we passed the boat that Pachirisu was on, it hopped onto my shoulders. The captain looked very confused when I rode past him on a Wailord. The Wailord started to drag me off to who know where. Sorry, Keith. It looked like I was taking another detour.

* * *

**Am I the only one who thinks this Wailord mission is ridiculous? Seriously, trying to use a pokemon to replace a Cargo Ship? Not gonna work, Team Dim Sun! **

**Anyway, next chapter should be soon. Review if you enjoyed!**


	26. Liberate the Oil Rig!

**Two things about this chapter 1: I had wayyyy too much fun with it. Just a fair warning. **

**2: It's pretty long. It was about 10 pages on google docs.**

**So other than that, we should be good to go! Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

* * *

The Wailord dragged me all the way to a giant building with a small grate dock. I hopped off of it, followed by Pachirisu, and headed the only way I could, toward the building. Standing in front of a long ladder was a man in a red hat. He turned at the noise of my feet on the grate.

"Sparkette?" he said.

"Sven!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I had my suspicion about this place. Didn't think it'd catch your eye, though," he said.

"So is this where you've been the past few days?" I asked. "Wendy's pretty mad at you for ditching her, by the way."

Sven sighed. "I know. But hey, I found a Dim Sun lead, so I followed it! This might take some explaining though… but that's enough about me! What are you doing here? And why did you ride in on a Wailord?!"

"It wasn't exactly my choice to come here," I replied. "I kind of got dragged here by that Wailord. We were chasing an abducted Wailmer."

"I get it," Sven said. Really? Cause I'm not sure I did. "Anyway, after we split up I did some more investigating. I found the helicopter that carried the Shadow Crystal. I chased it, and it lead me all the way here."

"What is this place?" I asked.

"This is Altru Inc's oil rig," He replied. He walked closer to the ladder. "We're above an underwater oil rig right now. I heard this place had been shut down, though. I guess I heard wrong. This undersea oil rig needs investigating, but the stench of danger's strong here. Stronger than anything so far." He came back over to me. "This time, I'm serious. I need your help."

"But I need to go to the Haruba Desert!" I said. "Keith might need help!"

"Well right now I need your help," Sven said. "And this may be our best shot at breaking the case wide open! Keith is a lot tougher than he looks. He can wait." But I didn't want him to! Sven pushed a button on his styler.

"Voicemail, Voicemail!" he said. "Sven here. I'm at Altru's undersea oil field. I have Sparkette with me. Let me borrow her as a partner for a while." Didn't I get a say in this? Well, I guess I should rescue the Wailmer… and I didn't really have a way to get to the Haruba Desert anymore, anyway. "I'm declaring this place to be top priority for investigation," Sven continued. "Clear that with Chairperson Erma for me. Hurry it up, will you Linda? … Uh, right, sorry! I meant to say Rhythmi, darling." I snickered. Rhythmi mustn't have liked that!

"Thank you kindly, Rhythmi," Sven finished. "You tell Chairperson Erma that I thank you for her wisdom." He turned to me. "The Union cleared it. We're partnered up for this."

"Okay," I sighed. Keith would have to wait. "Let's just get this over with."

Sven nodded and I followed him up the long ladder into the oil rig. When we got to the top, We saw three people surrounding a man. I recognised two of them, Ice and Lavana. The third wore grey clothes with yellow accents, had blonde hair, and seemed to be a lot older than the other two. He was at least in his late twenties. He was also larger than Ice and Lavana, and had a darker skin tone. I'm guessing he was the third leader of Team Dim Sun I heard about. But I forgot his name. Probably because the only name in my mind right now was Keith's. This yellow man was blocking a fourth person from view.

"I apologise for our coming here without warning," The man who I couldn't see said. His voice sounded familiar… where had I heard it before? And why did it send a chill down my spine? "Terminate the production of the Miniremo units soon. Shift the staff over to our main project. See to those two items on the agenda."

"Consider it done, boss!" Mr. Kincaid's voice said. I couldn't see him, but his voice was unmistakable. "That also goes for the fine personages of the Sinis Trio! The design data for the incredible machine will also of the Incredible Machine will also be deleted shortly. It's been a great honor to have you visit us!"

Ice, Lavana, yellow man, and hidden man headed into a purple helicopter. The helicopter flew away as soon as they were in it. I also heard Mr. Kincaid talking to someone as he walked away. After making sure it was safe, Sven and I ran up to where the helicopter was.

"This seems to be Team Dim Sun's secret base," Sven said. "But what did they mean by Incredible Machine?"

"I have no idea," I admitted. "It doesn't sound good, though. What is Team Dim sun doing here anyway? Isn't this Altu Inc's oil rig?"

Sven didn't reply for a while. "Sparkette… are you ready for this?" Sven asked, avoiding my question. "We're going into the enemy's hideout. You rescue the abducted Wailmer. I'll investigate this Incredible Machine of theirs. Try to uncover the secrets of the base. And if there's a chance, destroy it! That's our mission!"

"I'm ready!" I replied. Ready to get out of here! "Let's do this!"

Sven and I walked along the roof of the oil rig, followed closely by Pachirisu, until we found a door. Inside we found an elevator, and it took us down a floor. The elevator lead to another small room, which was empty. This door lead to a hallway.

"Sven, what do you think is behind the door?" I asked, leading him to a door that was blocked off by an electric fence.

"I don't know, but it must be important if Team Dim Sun is blocking it off," Sven replied. "We should try to get in there."

I nodded, and pointed my styler at it, then looked at the little screen. Electricity. Maybe if I could find a Luxio I could open it.

We headed into the next room. We would've gone further, but it was blocked off by an electric panel on the ground. In the next room a Team Dim Sun Minion was standing there. "This generator is for powering the electric panel in the corridor," He mumbled to himself. "It must not be turned off… Okay, noted and memorized!"

"Thanks for the advice!" I said, much to Sven's surprise.

The minion turned to me in surprise. "Gah! A Ranger?! Two of them, even?!" He nearly shouted. "I was just going over maintenance notes for myself. notes for myself! Pretend you never heard me! Otherwise, they'll give me the boot from Team Dim Sun!"

"We should be able to stop this with a Pokemon…" Sven said. He pointed his styler at it. "Another electric type… Sparkette let's try that door back there! It might have a good electric type in it!"

I nodded, and we headed through a door in the back of the room. There was an electric type in the room, a Luxio. I caught it without a problem. "That Luxio's not strong enough to break the generator," Sven said.

"But it is strong enough to break that electric barrier blocking the other door!" I said. "And Team Dim Sun is obviously hiding something behind it. Let's check it out!"

Sven nodded and we rushed out of the room and back through the hallway. The Luxio easily disengaged the electric barrier, and we were able to get into the next room. Inside we found another Dim Sun goon.

"Hey, you intruders!" He shouted. "Jolteon, get them!"

I readied my styler. "Sven, I'll take this guy," I said. "You go find whatever they're hiding in this room."

Sven nodded and rushed past the team Dim Sun goon, who pulled out a Miniremo unit. Soon, a Jolteon was facing me.

I captured the Jolteon pretty quickly, which caused the Miniremo to break. "What am I supposed to do now?" The grunt asked. "What are the procedures for this?" Sven returned from the other side of the room. A Luxray was following him.

"Sven, is that Luxray strong enough to break the generator?" I asked.

Sven nodded. "Let's get going, then!" I said. We rushed through the hallway again, returning to the room with the generator in it. Sven had his Luxray unleash an electric attack on the generator, causing it to stop.

"We did it!" I exclaimed.

"Let's move on to the next hallway," Sven said. "We've thoroughly checked this hallway."

I nodded and we stepped outside of the room. The electric panel had stopped, and we could continue. There was a door at the end of the hallway. We stepped through it to find a passageway through the ocean. It was a clear pipe, and you could see the ocean from all sides. It was really pretty, actually. There were arrows on the ceiling pointing in the direction that we had come from. At least we knew we were going in the right way!

When we stepped into the next floor, we saw the door directly to our right close. We also heard a Wailmer cry behind it.

"That must be where they are keeping Wailmer!" I exclaimed.

"Sparkette, I think we should split up for a bit here," Sven said. "I want to explore this floor more. You deal with the Wailmer."

"Okay," I replied. "Sounds like a plan. I'll come and find you when I'm done."

Sven nodded and ran down the hallway. I turned and walked into the door. Inside, I found about half a dozen team Dim Sun Minions.

"Intruder spotted!" They shouted as one. "Someone grab that Ranger! No way! I'm not as tough as I look! You go! When it comes to being wimpy I've got you all beat!" I sighed, tuning the minions out. I didn't have time for this! I needed to get this over with so I could go to the Haruba Desert! I started to walk toward the elevator in the back of the room.

"Charge!" One of the goons cried. What? Did I miss some conversation? That was so random! The seven minions charged at me, not even giving me a chance to react to what had just happened.

"Hey!" I protested as one of them grabbed my arms and pinned them behind my back. Wow, that was the second time I got grabbed by a minion today. Not really having a good day, huh? Another minion grabbed my Pachirisu. The man who was holding me shoved me out the door, where I feel flat on the ground. Soon Pachirisu landed on top of me. After I got her off of me, I flung myself at the door, but it didn't open. They had locked me out.

I sighed. "I guess I should go and find Sven now…" I murmured. I rushed through the long winding hallway and went all the way to the very end. I walked though the last door in the hall, where I found a control room. All of the guards seemed to be asleep. Nothing I needed to worry about.

I continued to the end of the room where I found another door.

"Wha-What are you doing?" I heard someone cry as I stepped through the door. That voice… it couldn't be!

But it was. I turned to the opposite corner of the room where I found Sven and a familiar blond, mushroom haired boy. "Sven, stop!" I cried. He turned to me.

"Oh, hi Sparkette," he said calmly. "I got blueprints for the machine from this mushroom boy."

"Isaac, are you okay?" I said running up to the two boys. "Sven didn't hurt you, did he?"

Isaac shook his head. "I'm fine."

"Sparkette, you know this person?" The two said at the exact same time. Before I could reply to either of them, a team Dim Sun minion stepped into the room.

"You creepy Rangers!" He shouted. "You're not getting off lightly!" He ran over to where we were standing, and pulled out a Miniremo unit. Two Mr. Mime pounced on us. Sven caught them as I took Isaac away from the minion. I didn't want him to get hurt.

"Sorry if Sven scared you," I said. "He thought you were with Team Dim Sun."

"Well, I am," Isaac replied. "Why is that a problem?"

"Wait, what? But you told me…" I started.

"So who is this kid anyway?" Sven asked, walking up to us. He had finished his captures and sent the Team Dim Sun goon packing.

"My name is Isaac," Isaac replied.

"We went to Ranger School together," I explained. "We were in the same graduating class."

"Whoa, so what's going on here?" Sven said. "How does a Ranger School graduate end up working in Dim Sun's hideout?"

"That's what I was wondering, Isaac," I said, staring at Isaac. "What are you doing here? I thought you were working at Altru Inc."

Isaac opened his mouth to reply, but Sven didn't give him the chance to. "Look, we don't have time to chat. We'll take this kid back to the Union. Professor Hastings will be happy with this catch."

"Really?" Isaac replied, excitement in his eyes. "You'll let me meet Professor Hastings? I'll go! Please, take me!" That was easier than I had expected! Isaac looked around the room. "I don't mind working here because there's plenty of books and the people are nice." The people of team Dim Sun were nice? "But the appeal of the Ranger Union is very strong. If I can lose myself in research, I'm willing to go anywhere!"

"Then it's settled!" I said. "Let's get going!"

"Before we leave, I'd like to say goodbye to Mr. Kincaid," Isaac said. "I think I owe him that courtesy." Wait, Isaac was still working with Mr. Kincaid? Why? Didn't he leave after we graduated? Didn't Isaac work for Altru Inc? This makes no sense…

Before I could say anything, Sven stepped in. "Well, why don't we all go together and give him a call, courtesy and all." Was Sven crazy? Who knows what Mr. Kincaid would do to us if we literally go looking for him!

"Really?" Isaac said, excited. "You two will come with me?" I nodded, reluctantly. Isaac smiled. "That's great! I'm sure Mr. Kincaid will be happy to see you!" I didn't think Mr. Kincaid has ever been happy to see me, even when I was still a student.

"Hey Sparkette?" Sven said. "Did you manage to rescue that Wailmer?"

I shook my head. "That's actually why I came looking for you in the first place, Sven," I replied. "I kind of got locked out of the room they took Wailmer through."

"They must've taken the Wailmer to Mr. Kincaid," Isaac said. I turned to him. "That's where they take most of the Pokemon."

"Isaac, can you lead us to where Mr. Kincaid is?" I asked.

"Of course," Isaac replied. "Come with me."

Sven and I followed Isaac back to the hallway. We continued through the hallway, heading back toward the room I was locked out of.

I tried the door again. It was still locked.

"So this leads to Kincaid's room?" Sven asked.

"Well, sort of," Isaac replied. "It's definitely the fastest way to get to Mr. Kincaid though."

"How can we get in, though?" I asked. "The door is locked, and we don't have Barlow to do his Target Clear."

"Remember the Chroma Ruins?" Sven asked. I nodded. "We could do the same here. 'The revoltingly rancid yet scientific method' to drive them out?"

I smiled. This should be fun. "Sounds like a plan to me!" I said. "Isaac, is there a Skuntank anywhere in this base?"

"Actually, yes," Isaac replied. "I've been using one for research. Why?"

"Can I borrow it?" I asked. "It can help us get into this room."

"Sure," Isaac said, confused at why we would want a Skuntank. Honestly, I didn't blame him. Skuntank were really annoying. And smelly. "Follow me."

Isaac lead us back through the hallway and we stopped at the second to last door. "This room is my lab!" Isaac said. "I'm keeping this a secret from Mr. Kincaid, but I'm trying to use foul smelling substances to develop perfume. That's where that Skuntank comes in. I've been keeping him in here."

Isaac walked up to the door and disengaged to lock. "Thanks, Isaac," I said as we walked into the room.

"Oh, remember to keep your noses pinched," Isaac added. I had definitely already figured that out! This room smelled almost as bad as the Chroma Ruins when we unleashed the Skuntank. I caught the Skuntank quickly, because I did not want to stay in there longer than I had to. No wonder Sven wanted to stay outside!

Sven and I ran back down the hallway, leaving Isaac to speedwalk after us. We stopped in front of the locked door. Isaac nearly crashed into Sven due to our sudden stops. "You know what to do, Sparkette," Sven said.

I nodded, and turned to Isaac's Skuntank.

"Okay, I want you to go into that room through the hole there and use your special ability," I said. Isaac stared at me, confused.

Skuntank nodded and ran through a hole into the elevator room. Pretty soon we heard the door click and six Dim Sun people ran out the door, screaming about how bad it smelled. Sven and I laughed.

"That wasn't very nice!" Isaac protested.

"I'm sorry," I replied, before Sven could ruin it. "It was the only way we could think of the get them to unlock the door."

Isaac sighed. "Okay," he said. "I feel kind of bad though…" Why did he feel bad for Team Dim Sun people? What was going on here?

We continued through the elevator room. There was still a Dim Sun in there, but he was in a daze due to the bad smell. The smell lingered in the room, but Isaac's Skuntank had already left so it wasn't too bad. We went down a long elevator that lead to another floor.

"Hey guys?" Isaac said as we stepped out of the elevator. "That trick we played earlier was necessary, I understand that. But don't you think we are going a bit too far?"

"What do you mean, Isaac?" I said.

"Well, these people were so nice to me," Isaac replied. "Why are you playing tricks on them?" Neither Sven nor I knew what to say to this. Why was Isaac even with them?

"So how do we get to Mr. Kincaid," I asked, avoiding Isaac's question.

"Mr. Kincaid's quarters are at the back of this floor," Isaac replied. "But there are three sections laid with electric panels in the way. They're powered by separate generators. You can't get through this floor unless the generators are turned off."

"Okay, can you lead us to the generators?" Sven asked. "My Luxray can stop them."

"Wait, Sven, you have a Luxray?" I asked.

Sven nodded. "He's my Partner Pokemon," Sven replied. So that's why a Luxray had been following us! I thought Sven had just caught it earlier!

"Then why…" I started. Then I sighed. "Never mind. Less work for us to do."

"Wait, are you planning on breaking the generators?" Isaac asked. We nodded. "I know how to turn them off. Wouldn't that be simpler?"

Sven and I glanced at each other. "That would work," I replied.

"But Sparkette..." Sven started.

"Lead the way, Isaac!" I said, interrupting Sven.

Isaac nodded and lead Sven and I through the hallway. It was great to have someone who knew their way around the base. The first door we came to was a few rooms down and to the right.

"Professor?" A Dim Sun minion said as we walked into the room. "Did you betray us? I don't know what's going on, but it's my duty to protect the generator!"

He pulled a Miniremo out and soon Sven and I each had to catch a Mothim. After we had caught them, the minion's Miniremo exploded.

I smiled. "Isaac, can you turn off the generator now?" I asked. Isaac nodded and walked over to the generator. He stopped it by putting in a password.

"Sparkette, why aren't we destroying the generators?" Sven asked.

"Isaac can turn them off," I replied. "We don't need to destroy them, we just need to stop them."

"But they could turn them back on!" Sven protested. "Besides, the kid's with Team Dim Sun, how can you trust him?"

"He's my friend," I replied, realising this was true. Even though we never talked, and I only just started trusting him a while ago, Isaac was my friend, and he had been for a while. "Besides, we need him to like you. He seems to like these people, and in order for us to take him back to the Union we need to be nice to him."

Sven sighed. "All right," he said. "Whatever you say, Sparkette."

"I finished!" Isaac said, cheerfully walking up to us. "The next generator we should go to is back toward the entrance."

"There's a specific order we need to stop them in?" I asked, as Sven and I followed Isaac out the door.

Isaac nodded. "The generator I just stopped and the one we are heading to control the electric panels blocking the last one," Isaac replied. "So if we stop these two first, we can get to the third and get to Mr. Kincaid's quarters."

"That's overly complicated," Sven said. "Why does this Kincaid guy have so much protection?"

"Mr. Kincaid doesn't like intruders," Isaac replied. "So he set the floor up this way so not many people would come through."

"Let's just get this over with," I said, not wanting Sven to anger Isaac. We continued on to the next room in silence, and I was the first one in the door.

"Huh? Professor?" A Dim Sun person said when Isaac walked through the door with Sven. "They've taken you prisoner?" Before Isaac could reply the guy said, "I'll save you!"

This guy also pulled out a Miniremo, and sent two Skuntank on us. Since I was obviously not keen on this capture, I let Sven take care of them.

"I don't understand why you guys are being so mean to the Team Dim Sun people," Isaac said to me. "They've been so nice to me, what could they have possibly done to you?"

"Ummm…" I replied. "Let's just say that we don't really get along." I couldn't tell Isaac the truth! He trusted these people! I don't know why, but he did!

"Hey, kid!" Sven shouted. He had already captured the Skuntanks. "Can you turn off the generator now?"

Isaac glanced at me, knowing that I wasn't telling him the full story, then nodded. He turned it off as quickly as he could, then walked out off the room.

He lead us through the hall and then over to a third door. What Isaac said was true, there were two inactive electric panels on the ground in front of the door. If we didn't target the other generators first we would've had a problem.

The Dim Sun in this room was singing. Very badly, actually. "Gigaremo's gone out of style!" the man sang. "Heavy, big, and antique for a while! Miniremo's where it's at! Light high performance, that folds flat! Gigaremo was made by a scientist! An old-school Altru elitist! Miniremo's maker is no hack! His name rhymes and it's…"

"Isaac…" I said, not even realising I had spoken out loud. "You invented the Miniremo?" Was that the invention he wanted to show me back at the park?

The Dim Sun guy turned to me. "What's the idea of bothering me while I'm singing our factory song?" He pulled out a Miniremo. I stared at it as Sven caught the two Machoke the guy had sprung on us.

"Isaac… invented that?" I whispered. "But why? It's caused so many people and Pokemon trouble!"

"Hey Sparkette?" Isaac said. I turned to him. "Are you okay?" He hadn't heard anything I had said.

"Yeah…" I replied, still lost in thought. "Are you ready to shut off the next generator?"

Isaac nodded. He walked over to the generator just as Sven finished his capture and blew up the Miniremo.

"Sparkette," Sven said, not loud enough for Isaac to hear. "Are you sure it's safe traveling with Isaac now? He did invent these things, he might be leading us into a trap."

"You know what? I don't care if Isaac invented them," I replied, at the same volume of Sven's voice. "He's my friend, he wouldn't do that to me. Besides, Isaac isn't like that. He's really nice, and he works for Altru Inc. That's good, right?"

Sven sighed. "Fine," he said. "I believe you Sparkette. Let's just keep moving."

"Isaac, are you ready to move on?" I asked, my voice louder as I turned to him.

"Yep!" Isaac replied. "Let's go see Mr. Kincaid!"

For the first time in my life, I actually saw Isaac run. Indoors. He ran out of the room, eager to see his teacher. Sven and I smiled. Finally, some excitement! We had gotten sick of just walking everywhere! We ran after Isaac. He was waiting for us in the next room, his face bright with excitement.

"After we see Mr. Kincaid, we can leave through that door over there," Isaac said, gesturing to the door on our right. "That leads to the emergency exit. The other door leads to Mr. Kincaid's quarters. Let's go!"

Sven and I followed Isaac through the door on our left. It lead to a long underwater tube, much like the one that Sven and I went through earlier. About in the middle of the tube, my styler beeped. A voicemail? Now?

Everyone stopped as I checked my styler. Keith was calling me! Maybe he found the gem!

"Vicemail! Vicemail!" Keith said. Vicemail? "It's me Hea… Keith!"

"Umm… Hi Keith…" I said. "What's up?" Sven and Isaac were staring at me confused.

"I call you about yellow gem!" Keith's voice replied. "You remember it? Big crystal? Yellow?"

"I remember it," I said. "If that's all you have to say, I'm kind of in the middle of something…"

"No!" Keith's voice exclaimed. "You are my friend, yes? You take care of it, okay? Okay!"

"Wait, but aren't you in the Haruba Desert?" I said, confused. "Isn't getting the Yellow Gem your mission?"

"You see, friend," Keith's voice said. I didn't like the way he emphasised the last word. "I remember I have another important mash-up I must do!"

"Mash-up?" I repeated. "Don't you mean mission?"

"I don't care what it's called!" Keith's voice shouted. "I don't have time to look for stupid rock. So you come to Haruba Desert now, please! Hurry, hurry, hurry, right away!"

My styler beeped again. "Keith" had hung up.

"Sparkette, when did Keith become such a jerk?" Isaac asked. "Why was he being so rude to you?"

"I don't know… Sven, somethings wrong," I said. "I need to go to the Haruba Desert! Keith needs my help!" I shouldn't have stopped in the park. I shouldn't have stopped to rescue that Wailord. I shouldn't have come to the oil rig. Now it might be too late to help him.

I started to run out of the hall, but Sven grabbed my wrist, effectively stopping me. "Sparkette, no," Sven said. "We're so close to finishing this mission, you can't leave now!"

"But-" I started, pulling my wrist away from him.

"Sparkette, don't even try arguing with me," Sven said. "I won't let you go. We need to finish this mission first. Besides, do you even know how to get to the desert?"

Oh right. Forgot about that. "But Sven!" I whined. "Even you were confused by that call! Something was obviously wrong!"

"Keith was probably just messing with us," Sven said. "You know how he is." Yes, I did know Keith. And I also knew the person who just called me was not him. I opened my mouth to say something, but Sven silenced me. "How about this. You rescue the Wailmer, Isaac gets to see Mr. Kincaid, then I take you to the desert on my boat. Keith will be fine until then."

I sighed. I guess I didn't really have a choice. There wasn't another way for me to get to the desert. "Okay," I said, reluctantly. "Let's go rescue the Wailmer and see Mr. Kincaid."

We continued down the tube in silence. "Is everyone ready?" Sven asked as we reached the door.

Isaac and I nodded. "I'll do anything in order to get to Keith sooner," I said.

"Then let's introduce ourselves!" Sven said, walking through the door.

"What is the meaning of this exactly?" Mr. Kincaid shouted. He hadn't even noticed we entered the room. "What compelled them to capture a Wailmer? Did they honestly think this tiny thing could take the place of our cargo ship?" Mr. Kincaid sighed.

"Hi, Mr. Kincaid!" Isaac said, cheerfully walking up to Mr. Kincaid. Sven and I followed him.

"Oh, hello Isaac," Mr. Kincaid replied. "How can I…what is she doing here?" Wow, I just walked in the room and he was already glaring at me! Usually he fake smiles first! "I thought I disposed of you at the cargo ship! Are you going to kidnap Professor Isaac?"

"Oh no, Mr. Kincaid!" Isaac replied. Had he not heard the part where he tried to dispose of me? Or was that just normal for Mr. Kincaid? "That's not true! Sparkette has offered to take me to the Ranger Union! I'm going to get the chance to see their research lab!"

"Besides, why would I want to kidnap my friend?" I asked, smiling. "Don't you remember me? I went to school with Isaac! I was in the class next door!"

"Remember?" Mr. Kincaid said, taking a step back from me. "How could I ever forget what you did to my cargo ship you little… what? You, behatted Ranger! That data disk in your hand… that contains our blueprint data!"

"Isaac gave it to me!" Sven said cheerfully.

"Wha… What is the meaning of this?" Mr. Kincaid shouted. "Not only Isaac, but the design data as well?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, a look of fake concern on my face. "Do they really mean that much to you? I guess we could give them back… but it'd be more fun if you tried to take it from us!"

Mr. Kincaid glared at me. "You heard her! Get Isaac and the blueprints back!" He shouted to two admins I hadn't noticed before.

They nodded, and charged at Isaac. Sven rushed over to protect him. "Take back the blueprints to your Incredible Machine?" Sven said. "It'd be incredible if I let that happen!"

I groaned. "Really, Sven?" I said. "We don't need another Crawford."

Sven laughed feebly. "Sorry. The opportunity was too good to miss," he said. "Anyway, Sparkette, you deal with Kincaid. I'll take these goons!"

I nodded, and took a step closer to Mr. Kincaid. I was glaring at him with a look of pure hatred. He took a step back, causing him to almost run into his chair.

"Oh, come on Mr. Kincaid!" I said, a fake smile plastered on my face. "Are you scared of a little girl?"

"N-no!" Mr. Kincaid exclaimed. "I'm just getting myself ready to teach you a lesson!" He pulled a Miniremo off of his chair. "Do you think you can befriend this, Sparkette?"

He punched some keys on the Miniremo, and soon a Gliscor flew down from the sky. It charged at me, and I readied my styler.

Mr. Kincaid's Gliscor had three different attacks, and it used all of them against me. His first attack shot tornados at me, his second shot poison spikes, and his third left a glob of mud that damaged my styler lying on the ground.

I started drawing circles around it as quickly as I could in between attacks. It got really tiring after a while, but I couldn't let my styler get damaged! I didn't have any Pokemon that could recharge it with me!

The Gliscor took a long time to capture. It moved relatively quickly, and attacked every few seconds. It also took a lot of loops to befriend it. Even with my power charge ability and the help of Pachirisu, it took at least three minutes to capture the Pokemon. I was panting by the time the golden light engulfed the Gliscor and Mr. Kincaid's Miniremo exploded. Mr. Kincaid fell down to his knees and stared at me in horror as I walked up to him.

"But… how?" he said. "How could you beat me? You're just a little delinquent!"

"Mr. Kincaid," I said. "Even though it pains me to say this, you were a great teacher and are very gifted, why are you using your talents for evil? You could be doing so much more with your life."

Mr. Kincaid didn't reply, he simply stared at the ground. After a few seconds, he smiled, and then burst out laughing. He got to his feet slowly, laughing maniacally. I took a few steps back. "It doesn't matter anyway!" He shouted, still laughing. "Who cares if I lost! You're already too late, and I don't say that out of spite, either!"

"What do you mean?" I said, taking another step back.

"The Incredible Machine in those blueprints are already ninety nine percent complete," Mr. Kincaid replied, his creepy smile still plastered on his face. "When the boss switches on that machine… Team Dim Sun's future will shine with the colors of darkness! I made it all possible! Dim Sun's future is built on my sacrifice! I did it by posing as the Ranger School's teacher and recruiting a boy genius! We couldn't of done any of this without you, Isaac!"

Isaac, Sven and I could only stare in horror as Mr. Kincaid started laughing again. We were about to leave, but suddenly the entire oil rig shook.

"What was that?" Sven asked. "Did something hit the rig?"

Everyone, except Mr. Kincaid, rushed over to a window. Outside, we saw the giant Wailord ramming into the side of the building. "It's a Wailord! It's trying to destroy our base!" one of the Admins shouted.

"No!" Mr. Kincaid shouted, his inhuman laughter finally stopping. "I'm a man with a FUTURE! I cannot drown here with the likes of you!" He pushed a button on the armrest of his chair and it was engulfed by a giant capsule as it sank down into the ocean. The admins followed him down the shaft, along with the Wailmer. At least it got back to the ocean. Isaac stared at the newly formed hole in the ground.

"Mister… Kincaid?" he said, his eyes wide. "The Incredible Machine? It's not a machine for promoting peace between people and Pokemon?"

Sven and I walked up to Isaac. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked. Isaac nodded, but didn't reply.

"We should keep moving, then," Sven said. "Let's go, guys." He walked out of the room and went back into the hallway.

"Come on, Isaac," I said, starting to follow Sven. Isaac nodded and walked out with me. We found Sven waiting for us in the hallway.

"I'd say this day was pretty good!" Sven said. "We got the blueprints, we rescued the Wailmer, and Isaac even got to say goodbye to Kincaid! I'd say that's Mission Clear, Sparkette!"

I smiled, but didn't have the heart to do my Ranger Pose. Not when Isaac was this upset. "I don't think we should start celebrating, though," I said. "It sounds like this machine of theirs is almost done."

"Isaac, can you open the door to the emergency exit?" Sven asked. Isaac nodded and walked out of the hallway, leaving Sven and I in his wake.

* * *

**So, what did you guys think? Be sure to leave a review!**


	27. A True Test of Friendship

**So my sister said that this was her favorite chapter in this story. So I hope you guys enjoy!**

* * *

"I see!" Professor Hasting's voice said through Sven's styler. Sven had just finished his report to the Union, and Isaac and I had just stepped off of the long emergency exit elevator. "Sven, that was an extremely important report. We urgently need to speak to Isaac. Please bring him here."

Sven's styler beeped as Professor Hastings hung up. Sven turned to me. "Well, Sparkette, a promise is a promise. I'll take you to the Haruba Desert on our way back to the Union. Let's go, guys."

Sven lead Isaac and I onto his boat. Sven went into the control room, but I sat down on the outside of the boat with Isaac.

"Hey… are you okay?" I asked as the boat started up. Isaac didn't reply, he simply stared at the ocean. "I know this must be hard for you, Mr. Kincaid did so much for you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"No, Sparkette, don't be sorry," Isaac said. "That was something I needed to learn on my own. I probably wouldn't have believed you if you told me, anyway. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. You should be worrying about Keith. Something was definitely wrong when he called you."

"I know," I replied, also staring out into sea. "Keith's in trouble, and I need to get to him. I wish I could come back to the Union with you though…"

"I'll be fine alone," Isaac said. "You go help Keith. He needs you a lot more than I do." I wished Sven realised that! Maybe I could've found him by now!

"Here we are!" Sven cried out cheerfully. "The Haruba Desert! Sparkette… you take care." I stood up from my seat.

"See you guys later," I said.

Isaac smiled at me. It was a relief to see him smile again. "Sparkette… thank you," he said. "Now go help Keith!" I waved goodbye to Isaac and Sven as I hopped off the boat. I watched it for a while as it floated away.

I turned away from the ocean to face the desert. The first thing I noticed was all of the sand. It was everywhere, even in the air! Why was there such a large sand storm right now? I'd been to deserts before, but I had never seen a sand storm this bad!

I ran across the dock and down a long winding path until I came upon a small village. I assumed this place was Haruba Village. Although something was weird… why was there a pulsing sound running through the town?

"Get your delicious coffee here! How would you like to try some of our tasty espresso with a dash of grittiness?" I heard a man shout as I walked into the center of town. I turned to the sound to find a man and a boy standing next to a cart and… a yellow Gigaremo? What?

"Um, daddy?" The boy said. "The trouble with this coffee maker is how noisy it is. Oh, and how it makes the coffee smell like oil a little bit."

Wait, the Gigaremo could actually make coffee? I did not need to know that! Well, either way I needed to destroy the Gigaremo. I rushed back the way I came to try to find a Pokemon that knew a crush move. It took me a while, but I finally managed to find a Sudowoodo. I took it back to the village and had it destroy the Gigaremo. When I destroyed it, all of the Hippopotas in the town ran away, and the sandstorm let up.

"Hey!" The man shouted after I destroyed the machine. "What have you done? That espresso machine was what made our business!"

"I'm sorry, but that's no espresso machine," I said. "That's one of Team Dim Sun's Gigaremos. That's why all of the Hippopotas were going crazy, the Gigaremo was controlling them."

"What?" The man exclaimed. "Oh no, I'm so sorry, Ranger! I read about these in the newspaper, how did I not recognise it?"

He pulled a newspaper out of his bag and handed it to me. I scanned it. It had an article about my battle with Ice, and the lights coming from the roof of the Ranger Union. Wait, how did they get the picture from Almia Castle?

"It's fine," I said, even though I didn't see a single Gigaremo in the newspaper he had shown me. "I understand that you didn't mean to do it, all that matters now is that the machine is destroyed."

"Is that why the Hippopotas whipped up the sandstorm?" The boy asked. "Because of this machine?"

I nodded. "Ranger, I'm so sorry about all of this!" The man said. "Is there anything I can do to make up for it?"

"Can you tell me anything about the Yellow Gem?" I asked. "I've been sent on a mission to look for it." Right. That was my Mission.

The man nodded and said, "The legends say you can find it in the Hippowdon Temple. You can get to it by leaving our town through that path there and going through the desert. You know, there was a boy who came here the other day asking about that gem. I haven't seen him since, though." Oh no. He was talking about Keith.

"Thank you!" I said, as I started to run toward the desert.

"Ranger wait!" The man called. I stopped and turned to him. "It's getting late, would you like to stay here overnight?"

I looked at the sky. The sun hadn't set yet, I still had time to get to Keith. "Thank you for the offer, but I need to keep going," I replied. "I have a very important mission to take care of in the temple."

Before the man could change my mind, I ran out of the town into the desert. I didn't get very far though, because my styler beeped again. I checked the screen. Keith's styler.

"Vicemail, Vicemail!" Keith's voice said. "It's me, Hea… Keith!"

"Keith, hi…" I said slowly.

"Hey, I sent you vicemail earlier! Told you to find Yellow Gem!" Keith's voice nearly shouted through my styler. "You my friend, yes? Then why aren't you coming here yet?"

"I was on another mission, remember?" I said. "I ran into Mr. Kincaid again. He attacked me with his Gliscor, although judging by your tone you don't seem to care." The real Keith would care. I know he would.

"No time for lame story!" he snapped. "Why you not coming here? Quickly! Come, come, now!"

"I'm already in the desert, just be patient!" I shouted. I hung up the styler before "Keith" could yell at me any more. I started to run toward the desert. I needed to find Keith. He was in trouble, and I was the only one who would help him. I wouldn't even care if this was a trap. Keith was my best friend, and I needed to help him. No matter what.

Some tourist helped me find the Hippowdon temple and I was there in no time. The sandstorm had picked up again, but I didn't hear another Gigaremo. At least that was a good sign.

"Excuse me, Ranger?" some man said to me. "Are you planning on going to the Hippowdon Temple?" I nodded. "Well, good luck with that. You can only get in if you have a Hippowdon with you. Hippowdon are pretty tough, are you sure you still want to go?"

"Thank you for your concern," I said. "But I have a very important mission at the temple. Do you know where I can find a Hippowdon?"

The man nodded. "There should be one in the sand there," he replied. "But it seems to be in a bad mood. Be careful!"

"Thank you!" I called as I ran to find a way to the Hippowdon. After walking around the entire temple, I finally found some stairs that lead down to the sand. I found another explorer standing there, watching the Hippowdon.

"Hi," I said to the man. He turned to me.

"Hello, Ranger," he said. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Yes, do you have any advice on how to walk on this sand?" I replied. "I need to catch that Hippowdon, but I can't catch up to it with this sand slowing me down."

"Oh, I would recommend riding a Doduo through the sand," the man said. "The sand doesn't seem to bother them too much. There's one right over there." He pointed to a Doduo happily trotting through the sand.

"Thank you!" I said, walking up to the Doduo. I managed to catch the Doduo pretty quickly, even though it was moving much faster than I could under the circumstances, and hopped on top of it. Finding the Hippowdon was almost as hard as capturing it, since it was creating tornados of sand that could damage my styler, and it kept on moving underground.

I eventually managed to catch it, and I rode the Doduo all the way back to the temple. When I got off the Doduo, I could see why you needed a Hippowdon to enter the temple. You couldn't get to the door unless you used it's ability, sand fill. However, pretty soon the hole was filled and I could get into the temple.

My styler beeped again as I entered the temple. I sighed, and answered it. It was "Keith" again.

"Vicemail, Vicemail!" he shouted. "I am Keith, I said, and I said come right away, here, did I not?"

"I'm coming," I said. "Hold your ponyta." Couldn't this guy at least try to act like Keith? Keith was a lot nicer than this guy.

"Well, come faster!" "Keith" said. "You be nicer to your friend! Me!"

"Maybe you should be taking your own advice," I said. "You haven't been acting like a good friend recently, Keith."

I pushed a button on my styler, hanging up. I needed to find Keith. I really hoped he didn't hear my last comment… That was about the imposter, not him! It was to show I knew something was wrong! I would never say that about Keith. I started to run through the first part of the temple. It was pretty straight forward, there were just a few obstacles I had to get past. Near the end of the hallway, I heard a Pokemon cry out. Was that…

"Buizel?" I said. "Are you Keith's Buizel?"

The Pokemon nodded, then ran into the next room. Pachirisu ran after him. I smiled, and followed them. If Pachirisu thought it was Keith's Buizel, so did I. But why wasn't it with Keith? That wasn't a good sign.

The next hallway was even simpler then the first. I just had to run straight. I followed Keith's Buizel through the hall and into the first door on my left. I paused when I entered the room, scanning it for Buizel. On the other side of the room I saw Pachirisu waiting for me. It must've followed Buizel through the room. I started to walk toward the other side of the room, but when I stepped on the sand on the ground, I was pushed back toward the entrance. I guess I would have to stay on the path, which was a lot more difficult than it might sound, since there were giant cannons shooting sand at me.

It took me a while, but I finally got through the room. I followed Pachirisu out of the room, where we came to another long hallway. Keith's Buizel was nowhere in sight.

"Pachirisu, do you know where Buizel went?" I asked. Pachirisu nodded, and ran down the hallway. I followed her, not even stopping to capture the bronzor that were attacking me. In the next room I found Pachirisu standing under a hole. A Drifloon was next to her. I caught the Drifloon, and it carried Pachirisu and I up to the next floor, where we found Buizel again. How did it get up there? Oh well, this was no time to question logic. Keith needed my help.

Buizel ran into the next room, leaving Pachirisu and me in his wake. We ran after him, and somehow he was already at the other side of the room we just entered. Scattered around the floor were some leaves of Springy Grass. I smiled. I guess this could be a little bit fun. Clinging to Pachirisu tightly, I hopped all around the room on the Springy Grass until we reached Buizel.

Keith's Buizel led Pachirisu and I down another long hallway, but soon ran ahead of us. The next door lead to an elevator type thing, and Pachirisu and I were soon on top of the temple. We had just walked out of the Hippowdon Temple's nose. Ew. Anyway, we continued down another elevator, where we found a room with floors that disappeared and reappeared. Not wanting Pachirisu to fall, I carried it through this floor to meet up with Buizel again at the back of the room. He had already moved onto the next room by the time we reached the end.

In the next room we found that Buizel had already reached the end of the room. Pachirisu lept out of my arms and followed it, but was stopped by a moving sidewalk on the ground. I ran after Pachirisu, and realised that the floor didn't get in her way at all. Pachirisu was trying to lead me through the room to get me to Buizel. Pachirisu was trying to lead me to Keith. I followed Pachirisu across the room until we reached the other side.

I walked with the two Pokemon into the next room. Inside we found a giant room with a hole in the middle of the floor. Buizel jumped down it. I followed him, not knowing how long the drop would be. I'm pretty sure I fell about three stories, down into the lowest part of the temple. I did a somersault when I landed, so I didn't die, and then dived to catch Pachirisu before she hit the ground.

I looked around the room. There was a lake in the middle, with a bridge that lead to a separate room. It was a pretty nice underground cavern, but where did Buizel go? Maybe he jumped into the lake or something…

Suddenly my styler beeped. I looked at it. The Ranger Union? What did they want?

"Voicemail, Voicemail!" Rhythmi's voice said through my styler. "Sparkette, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Rhythmi!" I replied. "What's up?"

"How is your mission going?" Rhythmi asked. "Have you found Keith yet?"

"No, but I think I'm getting close," I said. "Although, something is definitely wrong. We found Keith's Buizel, but not him. And someone's been sending me fake voicemails with Keith's styler. Or Keith just became a jerk in the time we've been separate."

"I'm guessing the first one! We talked to Keith last night, even he can't become a jerk in one day!" Rhythmi said. "Anyway, I'm getting indications that a strong Pokemon is ahead of you."

"It must be the Pokemon guarding the Yellow Gem!" I exclaimed.

"I believe it is!" Rhythmi said. "Maybe if you find the yellow gem you can find Keith! Oh, and you might want to hurry. Professor Hastings is getting pretty mad at you for taking so long."

Right. I was still in trouble for leaving without permission. Oh well. Something had defiantly happened to Keith, so it was good that I came out here. "Somehow that doesn't surprise me at all," I said. "Thank you for the advice, Rhythmi!"

"No problem, Sparkette!" She replied. "Good luck, and please find Keith soon!"

My styler beeped as Rhythmi hung up. "Are you ready, Pachirisu?" I asked. Pachirisu nodded, excited. "You haven't helped me with a capture in a while! Let's go!"

We walked down the bridge that lead to the next room. Inside, we found a large, open chamber. The walls were made of brown rocks, and lining the bottom of the rocks there was a layer of sand that flowed almost like a river through a stone trough.

There was a golden, moon shaped gem floating above a pedestal in the middle of the back of the room, right in between two sand falls that were filling the river. Well, I found the gem. But not Keith. Where was he? I hoped he was okay…

Before I could do anything Pachirisu started to walk up to the gem. I rushed after her, knowing what would happen if we got to close. Unfortunately, I was too late. When Pachirisu ran up the stairs that lead to the pedestal, the gem flashed twice, nearly blinding me. Pachirisu ran back to me, shocked. When Pachirisu was standing by my feet again, the gem flashed a third time. A rainbow light filled the room as a yellow and blue Pokemon with pink scale things descended from the sky, landing in front of the gem.

The legendary Pokemon Cresselia. I took a step back, with Pachirisu clinging to my leg. The beautiful Cresselia let out her cry and charged at me.

Even though she was probably the prettiest Pokemon I had ever seen, Cresselia was also one of the hardest to capture. With one attack she unleashed a powerful fire attack and shot a purple fire at my styler. It was easy to dodge, but it did a lot of damage to my styler.

Cresselia's next move shot a purple orb that circled the room. And never went away. That one was annoying, because whenever Cresselia got close to it my styler got damaged. And then she shot another one. Which moved at a different speed. And closer to Cresselia. This was really bad.

"Pachirisu, is there anything you can do to keep Cresselia in the middle?" I asked. Pachirisu nodded, and shot a thunderbolt at Cresselia when she was in the middle of the room. When it hit, Cresselia was frozen in place for a few seconds. Perfect.

I started frantically drawing circles around it. Whenever Cresselia started to move again I had Pachirisu shot another electric bolt at it. However, when Pachirisu got tired I was on my own, drawing circles around the pokemon in between her attacks. Pretty soon a golden light engulfed Cresselia as I drew one last loop around it. It smiled at me, and I smiled back. I had finally won.

Cresselia moved backwards a little bit, and removed the glow from the gem, allowing me to touch it. "Thank you, Cresselia!" I called as she flew away. I ran up and collected the gem. Mission Clear!

But where was Keith?

I ran out from the cave I was in. I needed to find him! That was the real reason I came here!

Before I could even make it back down the staircase, I heard a helicopter approaching. Wait, a helicopter? I turned to see the purple helicopter of Team Dim Sun landing behind me. I stepped toward it a little bit.

"Hoy, Sparkette!" A voice called.

"Who are you?" I demanded. "How do you know my name?"

"Nice work getting the yellow gem!" The voice continued, completely ignoring my questions. "Very good going!"

The door to the helicopter opened. I backed away from it a little bit. A man stepped out of the helicopter. My eyes widened. It was the yellow man from the oil rig. The third leader of Team Dim Sun. What was his name? I know the people said it back at Almia Castle!

The man laughed. "Although…" he said. "Very dumb it was for you, following silly vicemail all the way out here to this big Haruba Desert." He smiled, and in a perfect copy of Keith's voice said, "I imitating Keith good, yes? Mimic him good like he was me, yes?" I didn't reply, I simply glared at him. Did he really think he fooled me? I had known something was wrong with the first call!

"But too bad for you!" The man said in his normal voice. Well, as close to normal as it could get. The man had a ridiculous accent. "Team Dim Sun, I am belonging to! But, more, more, more, I am one of Boss's favorite's, the Sinis trio! My name, it is Heath!" Oh right, he was the candy bar. "First, I think to myself, get the yellow gem myself, I will! But there be a Pokemon guarding that rock. Then, along come a Ranger, kind of happy, kind of go lucky. Surprise! Surprise! He try to capture guard Pokemon! Good chance for me, yes? He capture Pokemon, I get rock! But that Ranger, Keith, no good. He fail at capturing Pokemon!"

"Where do I come into all this?" I asked.

"I been hearing rumors of you, skillful Ranger Sparkette," Heath replied. "Keith be your friend, yes? So, I send you fake vicemail with his styler!" He burst out laughing.

"What did you do to Keith?" I demanded.

"Oh, he's here," Heath said. "I'm willing to make trade, yes? Yellow rock for spiky haired friend? Fair deal!"

A Dim Sun admin pulled Keith, who was tied up tightly, into view. He looked like he was about to pass out.

"Keith!" I exclaimed. I wanted to charge at Heath, but who know what would happen to Keith if I did?

"Sparkette…" Keith said, his voice strained. "Don't do it. Don't give it to him."

Heath laughed again. "Silly Keith," he said. "Maybe brave, but smart, not so much." Heath took a step closer to me, causing me to take another step backwards.

"Yellow gem for blue-faced Keith," he said. "You make trade, yes?"

"Sparkette, don't do it! I'll be fine, don't worry about me!" Keith exclaimed, his voice still strained.

I stared at Keith for a long time. He was not going to be fine.

"I'm sorry, Professor Hastings…" I murmured, pulling the gem out from my pocket. "These gems aren't the most important thing." I looked up at Heath with a look of pure hatred in my eyes.

"I'll make the trade," I said, holding out the gem.

Heath smiled and took the from me. He then leapt into the helicopter and smirked. "Okay, you take Keith back. You no drop him. Catch."

I didn't even have time to react as Heath literally threw Keith out of the helicopter, causing him to land on the hard ground. I ran up to him. "Keith!" I cried, kneeling down next to him. Before I could untie the ropes, Heath laughed again.

"I give you bonus, too," he said. "Generous of me, yes?" I watched in shock as Heath pulled a Miniremo out from nowhere. A Magnezone fell from the ceiling, preparing attack. I could hear Heath's evil laugh once again as the helicopter flew away.

I stood in front of Keith, blocking him from harm's way. I pulled out my styler as the Magnezone attacked.

This was probably one of the quickest captures in my life. I needed to help Keith, I couldn't let a silly Magnezone get in my way! Using the power charge ability on my fine styler, I managed to catch the Magnezone in no time. As soon as it had run away I rushed over to Keith again.

I untied his ropes as quickly as I could. Keith struggled to get to his feet. "Do you need help?" I asked, holding out my hands. Keith took them gratefully, and I pulled him up.

"Sparkette…" Keith said, staring at the ground. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked. "If anything, I'm the one who should be sorry. I was the one who let that jerk take the gem!"

"For making you come out here," he replied. "And it was my fault we lost the gem! I was the one who got his styler stolen. And what will Professor Hastings say about losing the gem? He might blame you! You didn't do anything, you shouldn't get in trouble!"

"Who cares if I get in trouble?" I said. "All that matters is that you are safe. Besides, it's not your fault. This never would have happened if Team Dim Sun didn't interfere."

"I'm going back to the Ranger Union," Keith said, after a long pause.

"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked.

Keith shook his head, walking toward the exit with a slight limp. "I want to get there before you, so if they get mad at anyone it would be me."

"I don't care if Professor Hastings gets mad at me," I said, stepping closer to Keith.

"Well, I do," Keith replied, shoving me onto the ground so he could get a head start. It didn't really hurt, but it was slightly annoying. He started to walk towards the exit again. He was obviously in pain.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I said, slowly getting to my feet.

Keith nodded. No he wasn't. I opened my mouth to speak again, but I was interrupted by a Pokemon crying out. We turned to see Keith's Buizel standing there. It ran up to Keith.

"Buizel…" Keith said. "Sorry, pal. I put you through a lot of worry." You put me through a lot of worry, too!

Buizel let out it's cry again, ensuring that everything was okay. Keith turned back to me, his face red.

"I can't say this properly," he said, once again staring at the ground. "But… thanks for saving me. I'll make up for it, I promise!"

Keith ran off before I could say anything more. I wanted to call out to him, but he probably just needed to be alone. I picked up my Pachirisu and headed back to the Ranger Union by myself.

* * *

**KEITH NEEDS A HUG. THERE. I SAID IT. **

**Anyway, I hope you guys liked it! Please Review! **


	28. Back to the Union

**Sorry I was so late on this update. I started writing a new story based off pokemon black and that's taking up most of my time. **

**But hey, I didn't forget about this! I promise! We will finish this story! **

**And to the guest who reviewed, sorry this is late, but here is the new chapter. **

**Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

* * *

"Sparkette!" Rhythmi cried as I walked onto the second floor of the Union. "What happened to Keith?"

"Wait, is he not back yet or something?" I said.

"No, he's back," Rhythmi said. "But he was obviously injured, and you weren't with him. What happened? And why don't you have the Yellow Gem? I thought you found it."

"It's a long story," I said. "Where is Keith? I need to talk to him."

"Well, you're going to have to wait," Rhythmi said. "He's talking to Chairperson Erma and Professor Hastings right now. All of the Operators got kicked out of the Operation Room to give them some privacy, so I don't think they would like it if you barged in there."

"Do you know when he'll be done?" I asked.

"Not a clue," Rhythmi said. "And I bet they'll want to see you afterwards." I sighed. I guess I wasn't going to get a chance to talk to Keith tonight. Or maybe sleep tonight, either. Oh well. Wasn't planning on sleeping, anyway. "So tell me what happened," Rhythmi continued. "It's not like we don't have the time."

I sighed. I wasn't going to get out of this, was I? "I guess I can tell you what I know," I said. "You'll have to ask Keith for his side of the story, though. So I guess the whole thing with Keith started when I was in the oil rig with Sven and Isaac."

"Wait, Isaac?" Rhythmi said. "How did he get there? What was he doing in Team Dim Sun's base?"

"Um, let's not go into that," I said. "It's okay though, Sven and I rescued him. We were going to take him to say goodbye to Mr. Kincaid - don't ask - when I got a voicemail from Keith. Or more accurately, Keith's styler. Basically Keith had called me to tell me to get the Yellow Gem. Only it wasn't Keith who called me. At that point, I didn't know who it was. But I knew it wasn't Keith. The guy on the other line was nothing like Keith at all. Keith is nice, and funny, and a complete idiot, and he always knows how to cheer me up. But this guy was really rude and obnoxious, and kept on yelling at me when I literally did nothing. Keith always has a good reason to yell at me. Anyway, I wanted to leave for the desert right then and there, but I didn't have a way to get there. So Sven said he would take me in his boat after we saw Mr. Kincaid. He does, then he came back here, and Isaac was with him. Where is he, anyway?"

"Isaac? I didn't even know he was here," Rhythmi said. "I wish someone told me… I haven't seen him in

"Yeah, maybe you should talk to him," I said. "I'll help you find him later. He's the second person on my list of people I need to talk to. So when I get to the desert, I have to destroy a Gigaremo, then I get another call from Keith. He yells at me for not being at the temple yet, and doesn't even care that I got attacked by a Gliscor. I knew the real Keith would care. So I yell right back at this fake Keith, and I really hope Keith didn't hear what I said, then continued into the temple. I did some stuff to get in, and when I did I got the last call from fake Keith. Once again, we yelled at each other, I hope Keith wasn't listening, then I find Keith's Buizel. He and Pachirisu lead me through the temple, and at the end I find the Yellow Gem. I captured Cresselia, she gave me the gem, but I still didn't find Keith. I leave the gem room and start looking for him when Team Dim Sun's helicopter comes out from nowhere. Inside of it is Heath, the third leader of Team Dim Sun. I found out he kidnapped Keith, and stole his styler to make those calls."

Rhythmi gasped. "Oh no…" she said. "How did you manage to rescue Keith? Please tell me you didn't do anything dangerous!"

"No, but I did do something that'll probably get me in a lot of trouble. Even more than I'm already in," I replied. "Heath and I made a trade. Keith for the Yellow Gem."

Rhythmi's eyes widened in shock. "You gave up the Yellow Gem for Keith?" she said.

"Well, what else could I do?" I said. "I couldn't lose Keith. He's way more important than any rock."

"Wow…" Rhythmi said. "Did Heath actually go along with the trade?"

"Yes," I said. "It was actually his idea. He kidnapped Keith to lure me to the temple, so I could capture Cresselia and give the gem to him. Even though I knew it could be trap, I still went to the desert. I had no choice but to give up the gem. I don't know what I would do if I lost Keith. He's one of my best friends." Neither of us said anything for a while.

"I think it's amazing that you did that for him," Rhythmi said, quietly. "You're a really good friend, Sparkette."

"But what will the Professor say? He's already pretty mad at me, and now it's going to be even worse!" I said.

"Sparkette, I'm sure Professor Hastings will understand," Rhythmi replied. "You had no choice."

"I really hope he does…" I said. "Do you think Keith will be alright? Keith isn't the kind of guy to go down without a fight. I hope he didn't do anything too stupid…"

Rhythmi laughed. "Sparkette, this is Keith we are talking about," she said. "He will always do something stupid." And that's why I was so worried. Keith was way too proud to tell me what happened. That was why I needed to talk to him so badly. I needed to find out what happened.

Suddenly, Keith, came down the escalator from the Operation Room, his Buizel right behind him. "Keith!" I said, running over to him.

"Hey, Sparkette," Keith said. "Chairperson Erma and Professor Hastings are waiting for you. You should probably go in there." Keith ran off without another word. I made a move to follow him, but Rhythmi stopped me.

"You should go up there now," she said. "Don't worry about Keith. He'll be fine. I'm going to go talk to him." Oh great. Everyone was going to be able to talk to Keith before me. Yay. Rhythmi ran to follow Keith, and I walked into the Operation Room.

"Welcome back, dear," Chairperson Erma said. "How was your trip today?"

"There's no time for that!" Professor Hastings snapped. "Sparkette, where is the Yellow Gem? Keith didn't have it, so I'm assuming you do." Oh great.

"Um, I don't have it," I said.

Professor Hastings stared at me. "What?" he said, after a small pause.

"I didn't get the gem," I replied. "Well, I did, but I don't have it anymore."

"How did you lose a giant glowing gem?" Professor Hastings demanded.

"I didn't lose it," I said. "I gave it up. The Yellow Gem is in the hands of Team Dim Sun now."

"What have you done?" Professor Hastings shouted. I shrank back from him a little bit. "Do you understand how important that gem is?"

"I had no choice!" I exclaimed. "You don't understand!"

"What do I not understand, Sparkette?" Professor Hastings said. "The fact that you leaving the Union unprotected was pointless?"

"Wait a minute!" a male voice shouted. I turned to see Keith, Rhythmi, and Sven running up into the Operation Room. Keith was the one who called out. "It's not like Sparkette couldn't get the gem! She actually got it, and she had it for a while! She only lost it because of me!"

"Keith? What are you doing?" I asked.

"I can't let you get in trouble because of me," he replied, running to stand next to me. "Professor Hastings, Chairperson Erma, it's my fault we lost the gem. I got captured by Team Dim Sun. They stole my styler and convinced Sparkette to come to the Haruba Desert. They tricked her into giving up the gem. If I never got captured, this never would have happened!" It's not his fault he got captured! Keith couldn't blame this on himself!

"Keith, you can't-" I started.

"And Sparkette leaving the Union wasn't pointless at all!" Sven said. He was standing on the other side of me. "She was a huge help at the oil rig. I don't think I could've done it without her."

"And she rescued a Wailord from Team Dim Sun!" Rhythmi said. She was next to Keith. "She also rescued Isaac and a Wailmer at the oil rig!"

"And she saved me from Heath," Keith said, staring at me. I stared back at him. "And I don't think I will ever be able to thank her enough for that."

"So who cares if she lost the gem?" Rhythmi said. "And who cares if she left without permission?"

"Sparkette did a lot more out on the field than she could've if she was cooped up here," Sven said. "I don't think anyone did as much as she did today."

"So don't get mad at Sparkette," Keith said, turning to Professor Hastings. This was the first time we took our eyes off each other. "Even without the Yellow Gem, we are so much closer to stopping Team Dim Sun's plans then we were this morning. And we have Sparkette to thank for that."

Rhythmi, Sven and Keith all glared at Professor Hastings. I could not believe they just did that for me. How did they know when to come in? Were they listening? How did they organize this in such a short time?

Professor Hastings didn't say anything for a long time. After what felt like hours of standing there, he sighed. "I guess there's nothing we can do about it now. We'll have to devise a new plan." It actually worked! I wasn't in trouble anymore!

"I'm glad you are safe, Keith," Chairperson Erma said. "That's really what's important here." Professor Hastings looked like he wanted to say something, but Erma beat him to it. "Sparkette, can I ask one last favor of you before you go to bed?" Bed? Sleep? What was that?

"Sure," I said. "What can I do for you?"

"I'd like you to go talk to Isaac," Chairperson Erma said. "He needs a friend he can talk to."

"Can Rhythmi and I go with her?" Keith asked. "We're his friends, too."

"Of course," Chairperson Erma said. "Just let Sparkette do most of the talking." I snickered, and Keith shoved me into Sven, who laughed. Good to see things were starting to get back to normal!

"Let's go, guys!" Rhythmi said. "I really wanna talk to Isaac!" Rhythmi grabbed Keith and me and dragged us downstairs. It took us a few minutes, but we eventually found Isaac in the break room.

"Isaac?" I said. He turned to me. "Can we talk to you for a second?"

"Oh, hi guys," Isaac said. "Sure, I guess."

Rhythmi, Keith and I walked over to Isaac and sat down at a table with him. "Are you okay?" I said. I knew he wasn't, but I don't think Keith and Rhythmi knew the truth about what happened. And I did not want to mention it if I didn't have to. I kinda wished Rhythmi and Keith weren't with me right now. Isaac and I really needed to talk. Alone. I needed to find out more about Team Dim Sun, and Altru Inc.

"I'm fine," Isaac replied. "Just thinking about… stuff. Keith, I'm glad you're safe. That voicemail from earlier was really weird."

"That's because it wasn't me," Keith said. "My styler kinda got stolen."

"That honestly doesn't surprise me," Isaac said. "Whoever was impersonating you did a really poor job of it."

"Yeah, he did," I agreed. "Heath really sucks at being you, Keith. Even though he got the voice right."

"Well, you know what they say, Sparkette!" Rhythmi said. "Nothing beats the original! Even if the original is a complete idiot!"

I laughed as Keith shoved Rhythmi off her chair. Even Isaac was smiling at our friends. "So, what are you guys doing here, anyway?" Isaac asked.

"We came to check on you," I said. "You really went through a lot today."

"How about we don't talk about it?" Isaac said. Rhythmi and Keith were still fighting, and weren't really paying attention to our conversation.

"That sounds good to me!" I said. "So, do you like the Union?"

"I do," Isaac replied. "It's really peaceful. At least it was until you three came in." I laughed.

"That's pretty much how it works around here," I said. "You get used to it after a while."

"Oh, I'm already used to it," Isaac said. "I have known you three since school, after all."

"Yep!" I said, cheerfully. "I'm surprised we haven't scared you off yet! Our craziness is usually too much for people to handle."

"Hey, we aren't that crazy!" Keith said, walking over to us again.

"He's right!" Rhythmi said, also joining us again. "We aren't all that crazy. It's only when we're together that we get crazy!"

Isaac laughed. It was the first time I had heard him laugh in a long time. Maybe even forever. "Pretty much," he said. "You three are ridiculous. That's probably why I like you guys so much."

"Hey, everyone needs a little bit of craziness in their lives," Keith said.

"I think we all got more than a little bit of craziness today," Rhythmi said. No one said anything for a while.

Uh oh, I needed to keep Isaac in a good mood! I can't stand it when one of my friends is upset! "I'm glad you like it here, Isaac," I said. "It's really great to see you again."

"Yeah, we missed you!" Rhythmi said. "What have you been up to?"

Isaac turned to me. I mouthed, they don't know what happened at the rig.

He nodded, and said, "Oh, different things. Nothing really interesting."

"Sparkette told me you got a job at Altru Inc," Keith said. "How is that going?"

"Well, it's good," Isaac replied. "An old friend helped me get the job." My eyes widened. He was talking about Mr. Kincaid. How did Mr. Kincaid help him get a job at Altru Inc?

"So what exactly is Altru Inc working for?" I asked.

"They are working for a bright future for the Almia Region," Isaac replied, staring at me. "I really like working for Altru Inc. The people there are usually very chill, but they can get fired up sometimes as well." That slogan… that was Team Dim Sun's slogan. Chill… Ice. He was talking about Ice. And fired up… Lavana. What did this mean? Mr. Kincaid… the slogan… even some of the leaders. Isaac was trying to tell me something. But what? Ugh I hate it when my friends are smarter than me!

"I'm glad you're enjoying it," Rhythmi said. "It sounds like you've been doing well."

"Yes, it's very fun," Isaac replied. "I love being part of the team at Altru Inc." Team… he was talking about Team Dim Sun. Altru Inc. and Team Dim Sun were the same thing. Oh no…

"So, what are you doing here, then?" Keith asked. "And how did you get at Team Dim Sun's oil rig?"

"That's not important!" I exclaimed. "The only important thing is that he's here now. And Isaac, I understand why you were at the rig, and it's all right."

Keith and Rhythmi started at us, confused. "I'm glad you understand, Sparkette," Isaac said. "It's great to see you guys again, but we should probably get to sleep. Altru's birthday is in a few days, and we need to get prepared." Prepared? Prepared for what? I did not like the sound of that…

"Isaac's right," Rhythmi said. "Although I don't know what Altru's birthday has to do with anything."

"Oh, well, since he works for Altru Inc he has some preparations to make," I said. "Right, Isaac?"

"Right," Isaac replied. He mouthed thank you at me. I nodded.

"Well, this has been a weird conversation," Keith said. "But Isaac's right. I'm going to try to get some sleep." Try… yeah. I didn't think anyone was going to get too much sleep that night. "Goodnight, guys." Keith ran out the room, followed by Rhythmi. Isaac and I were the only ones left in the room.

"Isaac, thank you," I said. "I understand now."

Isaac smilied. "Yes!" he said. "It actually worked! Do you think Keith and Rhythmi got what I was saying?"

"I hope not," I replied. "That must've been hard for you. Thanks."

"Hey, no problem," Isaac said. "You rescued me from Team Dim Sun, so it's the least I could do."

"Trust me, it's more than enough," I said. "Do you want me to lead you to one of the guest rooms?"

"No, I'll be fine," Isaac replied, shaking his head. "Sparkette, thank you for believing in me. Even though I was working for Team Dim Sun."

"So what if you were?" I said. "You're my friend, and I know you didn't do it on purpose. Mr. Kincaid was using you, and you realised this and joined our side. So none of that matters now."

"I still feel like I need to make up for it, though," Isaac said. "I caused so much trouble for you, and everyone here."

"Trust me, we understand," I said. "By the way, sorry if Professor Hastings scared you. He tends to be a little bit rash."

"It's alright," Isaac said. "He only yelled at me three times. He was trying to get the password for the data disk."

"I know I can't convince you to say anything," I said. "But it would be a big help to me, Keith, and Rhythmi if you told them the password." Isaac didn't say anything. "I'm going to bed. You should try to get some sleep too. Goodnight."

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**So yeah I kinda threw the game out the window for this chapter. I hope you liked it!**

**Please review! It will help a lot!**


	29. A Change of Plans

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Life got in the way of fanfiction. **

**Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

I don't think I slept at all that night. If I did, it was only for a few minutes. I was way too busy thinking about what Isaac told me. Team Dim Sun and Altru Inc. were the same thing. What did that mean? And what was the big deal about Altru's birthday? I really wished Isaac was less depressed, maybe he would tell us.

"Hey, Sparkette," Keith said as I walked into the Operation Room. He was standing across from Professor Hastings and Chairperson Erma. "Did you sleep last night?"

"Not at all," I replied. "I couldn't stop thinking about everything that happened yesterday."

"Same," Keith said. "Yesterday was really crazy."

"Well, I do have some good news," Professor Hastings said. Keith and I turned to him. He and the Chairperson had been talking about something, but Keith and I weren't really paying attention beforehand. I guess good news was so rare now it caught our attention. "Significant advances have been made in deciphering the diary. This is an entry dated some three years before the Shadow Crystal's discovery." Oh yeah, the diary existed. I kinda forgot about it in all of the craziness from yesterday.

Professor Hastings cleared his throat and opened the diary. "I spent another day poring through old documents and writings," he read. For once Keith was actually listening intently. "I learned of the Red Gem, the Blue Gem, and the Yellow Gem." I shifted closer to Keith at the mention of the Yellow Gem. "I learned how the Shadow Crystal fears and loathes the harmony of the Gems. And how it also strangely seeks their harmony. I now understand what I must do while I still live." He closed the book.

"And that's all we got…" he sighed. "But still, it gives us hope! Our hypothesis is correct!"

"We have a hypothesis?" I whispered. Keith shrugged.

"The three colored gems do have an effect on the Shadow Crystal," Professor Hastings continued. Oh, that hypothesis. "It's clear Brighton Hall came to that same realization."

"Excuse me. It's Isaac. May I come in?" Isaac had just come up the escalator into the Operation Room.

"Hi, Isaac," I said.

"What's up?" Keith said.

"I thought a lot about what happened yesterday," Isaac said, walking over to Keith and me. "I'm ashamed to realise this now, but the world I knew of only consisted of whatever I saw through books and PC monitors. I saw things but I never understood them. The password to the data disk… it's Melody. It's my little sister's name."

"Isaac," I said, "thank you. What made you change your mind?"

"Honestly, you and Sven," Isaac said. "When you two rescued me from the oil rig, I realized that no one in Team Dim Sun really cared about me. But here at the Ranger Union, people do care. Even though I'm supposed to be an enemy, Sven treated me like a brother. Keith and Rhythmi cheered me up with their craziness. Professor Hastings yelled at me a few times, but after that he left me alone. And Sparkette, even though you learned the truth about me, you still treated me like a friend. And that was what I really needed. Thank you."

I smiled, but Professor Hastings spoke up before I could say anything. "Isaac, thank you!" he said. "That took courage! This could save Almia! Linda! Tell the researchers! The password is Melody!" Before Linda could even move, Professor Hastings was already down the escalator. Chairperson Erma and Isaac soon followed him. Isaac gave a little wave before he left. I was about to leave as well when Keith stopped me.

"Why did Isaac have the password?" Keith asked. "What happened at the oil rig?" Oh right. Keith still didn't know about that. Great.

"Um, it's hard to explain," I replied. "You'll have to ask Isaac. Let's go downstairs with everyone!"

"Wait, you can't end that there!" Keith said, grabbing my hand. "Please tell me what you can. Isaac is my friend, too."

I sighed. "Fine," I said. I didn't even try to take my hand from his. "When I was at the oil rig with Sven, I found out Isaac was the one who invented the Miniremos, and probably helped with other investigations for Team Dim Sun."

"What?" Keith said. "But… why?"

"It wasn't his fault!" I said. "Mr. Kincaid only became a teacher so he could recruit Isaac for Team Dim Sun. But it's okay now, 'cause Isaac realised he was being used and came here."

"But… I thought he was working for Altru Inc!" Keith exclaimed.

"Not so loud!" I said. "We aren't the only in people here, you know. And… Isaac does work for Altru Inc. Mr. Kincaid helped him get that job."

"What are you talking about?" Keith asked.

I groaned. "Do I really need to spell this out for you?" I said. Keith stared at me, blankly. I sighed. Keith, why weren't you smarter? "I'll take that as a yes, then. Isaac does work for Altru Inc. Because Altru Inc and Team Dim Sun are basically the same organization."

Keith stared at me. "Why didn't you tell me?" he said. "I thought you trusted me."

"I do!" I said. "I just didn't want you to think differently of Isaac. He went through a lot yesterday, we don't need people to hate him."

"Sparkette, I could never hate Isaac," Keith said. "He's my friend. You should know me better than that."

I sighed. "I know," I said. "I'm sorry. Don't tell Rhythmi about this, though. I think Isaac should be the one to tell her."

Keith nodded. "I won't," he said. "We should probably go downstairs now. Come on." Keith dragged me downstairs. We met up with Professor Hastings, Chairperson Erma, Wendy, Sven and Isaac in the Conference Room. My hand felt cold as Keith finally let go. We had to wait a while, but a few minutes later Nage ran into the room.

"Professor Hastings, we're ready," Nage said.

Professor Hastings nodded. "Very well," he said. "Bring up the data on the underfoot monitor, if you will."

Nage nodded, and pushed a button on his remote. He ran to stand next to Professor Hastings, and an image came up on the screen. The blueprints of the Incredible Machine came up on the monitor. I know it wasn't the first time I saw the monitor in action, but it was still really cool! I loved the underfoot monitor! But… the shape of the machine… what was it? Why was it so familiar? Everyone stared at it for a while, then I gasped.

The Incredible Machine was Altru Tower.

No… it couldn't be. The tower couldn't be the Incredible Machine. But it was. One by one, everyone in the room seemed to realise what this meant. Keith was the last to figure it out. The tower was going to be finished tomorrow. This was a disaster! The Incredible Machine was nearly finished!

Professor Hastings started pacing the room. "Take a close look at the blueprint," he said. "Look at the top of the tower. That object at the top… it's probably the giant Shadow Crystal. So this is what this is about." Nobody said anything for a while. We were all lost in thought.

So that was the big deal about Altru's birthday was! Team Dim Sun's plans were nearly finished! What were we going to do? We were running out of time!

"Give me a moment to think…" Professor Hastings murmured, walking out of the room. Isaac followed him, after a quick glance at Keith and I. Nage was the last of the three researchers to leave the room.

Chairperson Erma walked to stand in the center of the room. "When the Professor gets into that state, he won't emerge for a while," she said. "We call it his solitary strategy session. In the meantime, I'd like you four to address the concerns of the citizens. We'll voicemail you when the Professor is ready."

The four of us Top Rangers nodded. Keith turned to me. "Hey, Sparkette," he said. "Wanna go patrolling together?"

I nodded, but Sven walked over to Keith and grabbed him. "Oh, no you don't. Keith, you're coming with me," he said. "Sorry, Sparkette, but I need to talk to this idiot." Um, so did I. Seriously, when was I going to get some time alone with him? Hopefully before tomorrow…

Keith was arguing with Sven the entire way out of the Union. Wendy and I could hear them even from up in the Conference Room. I think I could hear my name mentioned a few times. Wendy laughed and walked over to me.

"So do you want to patrol together?" she asked. "It might be peaceful without those idiots around."

"Sure," I said. We started to walk out of the Union.

"I can't believe Altru Inc is really Team Dim Sun…" Wendy said. "And all of the people are still so oblivious to this! I mean, look at today's paper!"

The green haired Ranger handed me todays edition of the Almia Times. It was all about Altru's birthday, and the new Dream Energy they were developing.

"So what is this Dream Energy thing, anyway?" I asked.

"I don't know," Wendy replied. "But I don't like the sound of it. So, where did this Isaac kid come from anyway?"

"Oh yeah. You were off on a Mission all day yesterday, weren't you?" I said. Wendy nodded. While we were rescuing some Skitty from Peril Cliffs, I told her the story about what happened at the oil rig. I decided to leave out the vicemail part, though. I really did not want to get into that.

"Wow," Wendy said when I finished my story. "Isaac must be really smart if Kincaid recruited him."

"Oh, he is," I said. "He's probably the smartest person I know. Actually, he's probably the only boy I know who isn't a complete idiot."

Wendy laughed, and said, "Well, I think it's great that he's on our side now. We need some boys around here that aren't idiots." Finally, we found the Skitty and we were taking it back down the cliffs.

"I kinda wish the idiots were with us, though," I said. "I really need to talk to Keith about everything that happened yesterday."

"Yeah, yesterday was really crazy for you two, wasn't it?" Wendy said. "Sven told me about what happened in the desert."

Oh, she heard about that? At least someone else told her. I really didn't want to go into that.

"Don't worry about losing the gem," Wendy said. "Keith is much more important than any rock."

"I wish the professor understood that…" I sighed. "Last night was ridiculous."

Wendy was about to say something when my styler started beeping. "Voicemail, Voicemail!"

"Hi, Rhythmi," I said. "What's up?"

"We're having a meeting on the roof, and all of the Top Rangers are needed," Rhythmi replied. "So you two better hurry up."

"Okay, we'll be right there," Wendy said. My styler beeped as we hung up. "Come on, Sparkette. We can fly back on my Staraptor."

"Sounds good to me!" I said. Wendy hopped onto her Staraptor, and Pachirisu climbed onto her shoulders. I had to be carried, but I didn't care. I really liked flying. It was fun.

We had Staraptor drop us off in front of the Union, since we couldn't get onto the roof from the sky with the giant tree in the way, then ran up to the roof. Professor Hastings, Chairperson Erma, and Isaac were standing in front of the dais for the three gems. Obviously only two of them had gems. Keith and Sven were already there, along with Barlow. Wendy automatically ran over to Sven. I ran to stand next to Keith.

"Hey," I said. "How was patrolling with Sven?"

"I really want to hurt him," Keith said. "He was really annoying." I laughed, and Keith glared at me.

"Professor Hastings, I believe we are ready to begin," Chairperson Erma said.

"Hmm," Professor Hastings said. "Before I outline our operation, you need to know more about Altru Tower. Isaac, please."

Isaac nodded and stepped forward. "The tower is three hundred and four meters tall, which is just shy of eleven hundred feet," he explained. "From the top of the tower, you can see out to all corners of the Almia region. But it's not an observation deck for tourists or anything of the sort. It had to be that tall to gain control over every Pokemon in Almia. The Shadow Crystal from the Chroma Ruins is set on top of the tower. A strong electrical feed to the crystal unleashed its power. It will gain control over all Pokemon within an approximately five hundred mile radius. The Incredible Machine's power is equal to roughly eight million Gigaremo units. Halfway up the tower is the centralized control room. It allows control of individual Pokemon with unique signals for each one. It also has approximately three hundred times more commands than the Miniremo."

Okay, I'm not sure if I understood even half of that. Keith looked completely lost as well. Isaac stepped aside, done with his presentation. I gave him a thumbs up when he passed us.

"These facts emerged from Isaac sharing information with us," Professor Hastings said. "Combined with our own data, we have a clearer picture of what we are facing. Kincaid had misled Isaac all the time with false promises about the tower. He was told it was a peaceful project for fostering new means of communications between Pokemon and people. So, what is their actual objective? The answer is in Brighton Hall's diary."

The Professor pulled out the burnt diary and flipped open to one of the pages. "My son, Blake Hall, having just turned sixteen, drove me out of the company," he read. "His parting words crushed me. 'I will eliminate anyone who stands in the way of my world domination, even my father.' My son has become the main character in this nightmare. The nightmare woven by the Shadow Crystal…"

Professor Hastings closed the book. "And that is as far as we have been able to decipher…" he said.

Everyone stared at the Professor, wide-eyed. Even Isaac seem shocked by this news. "Blake Hall is aiming to take over the world?" Barlow exclaimed.

"Isaac said the Incredible Machine can control all of the Pokemon in Almia!" Sven said. "If that's true, world domination doesn't sound all that far-fetched."

"This is terrifying news…" Wendy said.

Suddenly, the entire building started shaking. I instinctively grabbed Keith's shoulder to steady myself. Luckily, he didn't seem to care. It felt like an earthquake! What was going on? Fortunately, the tremor stopped after a few seconds.

"What was that?" Keith exclaimed. I realised my hands were still on his shoulder, and quickly let go.

"They must've run power to the Incredible Machine as a test," Isaac said. "They only turned it on for an instant to monitor its operation. Judging by the noise, however, the test was a failure. I imagine they haven't been able to do the final adjustments to the program. That's because I was supposed to do them."

"So does that mean their plan will fail?" Wendy asked.

Isaac shook his head. "Even if the final adjustments aren't made, the tower will still operate. Its power will be reduced to about half, but it will work. That's how the Incredible Machine was designed."

"Well, that's better than working at full power," I said.

"But even at half power, the tower can still wreak havoc all over Almia," Professor Hastings said. "Alright, everyone! Look sharp! Let me announce our plan!" Finally! "Extensive analysis of the blueprints made one thing clear. It is virtually impossible to shut off the tower's electrical circuits. This leaves us with one option. We must do something about the Shadow Crystal itself. However, infiltrating the tower will be an undertaking task fraught with danger." So? That honestly sounded like fun! "What then can we do?" Let's go storm the tower! "There remains only one course of action: mount an assault on the tower from the outside." Aw. That's no fun! "Do you recall how the three pendants shone on the rooftop? And how they turned the Dark Shard completely transparent?"

"Is that what we're going to try to do with the Shadow Crystal?" Sven asked.

Professor Hastings nodded. "Ideally we'd need all three of the gems…" Keith and I shifted closer together awkwardly. "With only two, though, the power of the machine will still be weakened by seventy percent."

"Alright, Professor," Sven said. "How do we get the two gems to the Shadow Crystal?"

"Are you suggesting we use my Staraptor?" Wendy asked, excited.

"Precisely!" Professor Hastings replied. "You will live up to your nickname the Flying Ranger!" Wendy smiled. "Two Top Rangers are to each ride a Staraptor, carrying one of the gems. They are to circle the tower and draw closer and closer to the Shadow Crystal. The closer they get, the greater the gems' effect on the crystal." Did we ever test that? I don't remember ever trying that. "Of course, that increasingly exposes the Top Rangers to danger."

Professor Hastings stepped forward. "I'd like to call upon the best of our Top Rangers, the two that we have learned to take pride in. These two Rangers are… Sven and Wendy!" Um, Keith and I existed too. What were we going to do?

"Now you're talking!" Sven said, stepping forward. "I've been longing for a Mission like this!"

"You can count on me!" Wendy said, also stepping forward. "Flying is what I'm especially good at."

Professor Hastings walked over to Keith and me. "Sparkette and Keith, I'd like you two to remain at the Union," he said. Really? More sitting around? "There's no telling what might happen, so we want you here. Does this displease you?"

Neither Keith nor I said anything. Really? You didn't even want us to go support them? We were just going to sit around and do nothing? This sucked! Were Keith and I seriously going to be pointless?

"We Area Rangers will concentrate on addressing the concerns of the citizens," Barlow said. "But we'll try to stick close to Pueltown in case we are needed." Okay, really? So Keith and I were literally the only two Rangers that weren't helping with this operation at all? Even our Partner Pokemon seemed disappointed by this!

"That's what I hoped to hear, Barlow," Professor Hastings said. "You're entrusted with that task." Yay. Keith and I were the only ones without tasks now.

"Finally, we need a name for this operation," Professor Hastings continued. "We shall borrow the name of the writer of that charred diary. We shall call it Operation Brighton!" Everyone murmured in agreement of this suggestion. "Alright, everyone!" Professor Hastings exclaimed. "Let Operation Brighton commence!"

"Yes, sir!" we all cried. Keith and I said it a little bit unenthusiastically.

Everyone went their separate ways. Wendy and Sven each got a gem and were off on their Staraptors. Isaac and Professor Hastings went back to the Research Room, and Chairperson Erma went to the Operation Room. Barlow left to go to Pueltown and contact the other Area Rangers. That left Keith and I alone on the roof.

"This sucks!" I said, slumping down onto the ground. "They didn't even want us to go support Sven and Wendy!"

"I know," Keith said, sitting down next to me. "This really sucks. I was hoping we'd at least get to help…"

I sighed. "Well, there's really nothing we can do about it," I said. "I hate being cooped up here, though."

"Hey, Sparkette?" Keith said. I turned to him. "Can I ask you about something?"

"Sure," I said. "What's up?"

"Last night when we were talking to Isaac, you said that Heath sucked at being me," he replied. "Did you really mean it?"

"Of course I did!" I said. "What, did you really think Heath fooled me?"

"Wait, then why did you come to the desert?" Keith asked. "I thought it was because you thought I was the one who asked you to come get the gem."

"Oh, I was already on my way there," I said. Keith stared at me. "I got worried when you didn't come back, so I went to look for you. Sorry I couldn't get there sooner. Maybe none of this would've happened if I did…"

"So… Heath didn't fool you?" Keith said.

I laughed. "Keith, of course he didn't!" I replied. "Heath doesn't know you as well as I do. There was no way he could fool me!"

Keith grinned. "You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that!" he said. I smiled. Keith suddenly looked like he just remembered the most important thing in the universe.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" he exclaimed. He started to rummage around for something in his pocket. "I got this for you in Pueltown. As thanks for saving me." He pulled a small box out from his pocket. "Here." Before I could protest, he shoved the box into my hand.

"Keith, you didn't have to-" I started.

"Just open it," he said. I sighed, and opened the box. I gasped. Inside there was a silver necklace. It had a star shaped pendant in my favorite color, light blue. It was truly breathtaking.

"Keith... this is beautiful!" I said. "Thank you!"

"Hey, it's nothing compared to what you've done for me," Keith replied. "Try it on."

I nodded, and put on the necklace. Keith grinned at me. "What?" I said.

"It looks nice," he said. I smiled. "I'm really glad you like it, Sparkette."

Neither of us said anything for a while. We tried to, but no words came out. But I don't think either of us really cared. It was really peaceful up here.

At least it was, until there was an explosion from somewhere downstairs. Wait, what? Explosion? That's not good...

"What the heck was that?" Keith exclaimed, leaping to his feet.

"I have no idea," I replied, also standing up now. "I'm going to go check it out." I started to run off of the roof, but Keith grabbed my wrist, stopping me.

"Sparkette, be careful, alright?" he said. "I'm going to make sure everyone's alright."

"Good plan," I said. "I'll come and find you when I figure out what's going on."

Keith nodded, and released my wrist. With one last glance at Keith, Pachirisu and I ran off of the roof.

* * *

**I will try to update sooner next time. Sorry about that.**

**I hope you enjoyed! Please review!**


	30. Union Raid

**Add this one to the list of chapters I had wayyyyyyy too much fun writing. Oh well. Totally worth it. **

**Sorry for being so inactive lately. I've been trying to deal with life and writing and it's not working. **

**Read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"Sparkette! I finally found you!" Pretty much the second I stepped onto the second floor of the Ranger Union, Murph ran up to me.

"Murph!" I exclaimed. "Are you alright? What's going on?"

"Big trouble on the ground floor!" Murph said. "The doors were blown apart by a wicked explosion! Plus, a big, sinister guy came in!"

Big sinister guy... I needed to check this out. "Murph, go find Keith!" I said. "He can help you tell everyone! I'm going to go check this out!"

Murph nodded and ran up the escalator. Pachirisu and I ran down to the ground floor.

The entire room was smoky. The explosion obviously came from this floor. And who caused the explosion? It was none other than Heath, who happened to be on the top of my list of people I wanted to clobber.

"Heath!" I shouted. He turned to me, smiling.

"Well, look what we are having here!" he said. "How you doing, Sparkette? I'm glad you are remembering me."

"I don't think I could ever forget you after what you did to Keith!" I said, glaring at Heath.

Heath laughed. "This Keith boy, you are really caring for him, yes?" he said.

"Never mind that!" I shouted. I'm pretty sure I was blushing. "What did you do with the Yellow Gem?"

"Oh, that," Heath said. "We is hiding it away, very, very careful like. Where can it be? Somewhere in tower!" Heath laughed again.

Suddenly, Heath pulled a Miniremo out from nowhere. An Electivire walked in through the hole in the wall. I gasped.

"Now, then…" Heath said. "Time is it for having fun times!"

The Electivire charged at me. I hastily readied my styler. Okay, I really should have been expecting that. But I wasn't. The Electivire was harder to capture than the Magnezone from the day before. I guessed Heath figured out that he underestimated me. However, it still wasn't too hard to capture. All of it's attacks were really easy to dodge. Even without Pachirisu's help, it only took me about five minutes to capture the giant electric Pokemon.

Heath didn't even seem phased when his Miniremo exploded and Electivire ran away. "Ha!" I said. "How do you like that, Heath?"

Heath laughed. "Oh, you think you win?" he said. "Plan going well!"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. Before Heath could reply, the building shook with a round of explosions. It came from somewhere upstairs.

"What did you do?" I said.

"Me? I be doing nothing," Heath said. "I was playing at decoying!" Oh no. "For you, going upstairs is too late!"

"I'm not letting you take Isaac!" a male voice shouted. Keith? Oh no. What was going on up there? Heath laughed as I ran up to the second floor. This floor was also covered in smoke now. There was also a giant hole in the wall. Definitely not good.

Keith was standing in front of Isaac and Professor Hastings protectively. The one who was attacking them was Ice. That jerk...

"Keith!" I cried, as I ran over to the boys. "What's going on?"

"Sparkette!" Keith said, his face lighting up. This happiness was only temporary, however, as he turned to glare at Ice. "This jerk is trying to kidnap Isaac!" Oh come on! Really, Ice?

"Ice," Isaac said. "I'm never going back to Altru!"

Ice sighed and flipped his hair. "Professor Isaac, weren't we once colleagues who worked alongside each other?" he asked. "Why, I even learned how to operate software from you. Didn't I also share my candies with you?"

"Ice, no means no," I said. "Isaac's not going back. So get out of here."

"Stay out of this, Sparky," Ice hissed. I hated it when he called me Sparky. "This is between Isaac and I. So come on, Isaac. Please come back with me."

"You tricked me, saying that our work was for the good of society and peace!" Isaac said. "It was completely the other way around! I was lied to, over and over! I'm never going back there again!" Thank you, Isaac!

Ice sighed again. "Honestly, I wouldn't know or care much about peace among Pokemon," he said. "But I do understand peace among people. Do you understand that we are a very peace-oriented organization?"

Everyone stared at Ice blankly. Even Pachirisu and Buizel were staring at him.

"You blasted a hole in our wall, and you claim to be peaceful?" I said, confused.

"Yeah, we're not buying that!" Keith said.

"That's stretching the truth beyond the breaking point," Professor Hastings agreed. "We'll have your lot pay for the damage."

"Not having much success, are we, Ice?" a familiar female voice said. Lavana, otherwise known as the most annoying person alive, was standing in the newly formed entrance. She flipped her hair, and sauntered into the Union. I think she was dragging someone with her, but I couldn't see who it was.

"Lavana," I said, glaring at the pink haired woman. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought Ice could use some help," she said. "He's taking a really long time to get such a simple task done."

Wow, so now kidnapping my friends was simple. Kind of offended, here!

"Lavana, handling things in a manner befitting a gentleman takes time," Ice said. Wait, since when was Ice a gentleman?

"Then drop the gentlemanly act!" Lavana scoffed. "And do it in a dirty, despicable way! Like this, for instance."

Lavana pulled the person she dragged with her into view. Keith, Isaac and I gasped.

It was Melody.

"Isaac!" the small girl exclaimed. "Help me!" Melody winced as Lavana squeezed her arm.

"Melody!" Isaac exclaimed. He glared at Lavana. "What are you doing with her?"

"We need the architect of the Incredible Machine to make the final adjustments," Lavana replied, calmly. "You will come with us, won't you? You don't have much choice, sweetie. You see what's going on. I don't have to spell it out for you, do I?" Isaac didn't reply, he simply glared at Lavana. She laughed.

"How about a little demonstration instead?" Lavana said, smirking. "A little pinch for Melody." Lavana used her free hand to pinch Melody.

"Ouch!" Melody exclaimed. "That hurt!" I really wanted to charge at Lavana, but who knows what she would do to Melody if I did? Keith also looked like he wanted to charge at the pink haired girl, but satisfied himself with a glare.

"That's dirty, you hag!" he exclaimed. I snickered. Nice one, Keith!

"Hag? Did you seriously just call me a hag?" Lavana demanded. Yeah, he did. And it was awesome! Suddenly, Lavana's eyes widened. "Wait... I know you! You're that brat from Fiore Temple!"

"That's me!" Keith said, grinning widely.

Lavana glared at him. "You jumped-up mouthpiece of a little boy!" she shouted. Even Ice backed away from her a little bit. "You're going to regret that!" She held Melody's arm tighter. "Okay, that did it! Now I'm steamed!" Uh oh. "Isaac, decide! Are you coming, or staying? This time, your precious sister's going to get more than a pinch!"

Isaac didn't reply for a while. Keith and I stared at him, concerned. "Okay... I'll go back," he said, after what felt like hours. "They're hurting Melody because of me. Sparkette... Keith... I'm sorry."

Keith and I could only stare as Isaac walked over to Lavana. Lavana smirked, and said, "And that settles it! We're done with this place! Bye-bye, babies!" She grabbed Isaac and dragged him and his sister out through the hole in the wall. Ice stared at the hole, blankly.

"What the…" he said. "Was I even needed for this Union raid?"

"No, you really weren't," I said. Ice turned to me. "So I'd suggest you leave."

"Oh, how cute," Ice said. "You think we're done here." There was another round of explosions from the third floor, followed by a girl's scream. Rhythmi.

"What did you do?" I demanded, glaring at Ice. In all of the confusion, he had pulled out a Miniremo.

"Chill out. For once, I didn't do anything," he said, smirking at me. "But if you want to find out what happened, I'd suggest going upstairs. Or you could stay here and play with me. I know which one I'd prefer you choose."

"Sparkette, let me check it out," Keith said. "You deal with Ice." I nodded, and Keith ran up to the next floor. The explosions were having some effect on the Union, as the escalator had stopped working. I turned back to Ice, who was still smirking at me.

"Are you ready to have some fun, Sparky?" Ice asked. I glared at him. He laughed. "I'll take that as a yes." Ice flipped his hair and pushed a few keys on his Miniremo. A Garchomp came in through the hole in the wall. Ice smirked as the dragon Pokemon charged at me.

Garchomp was a lot harder to capture than Electivire. Ice had defiantly learned since our last encounter. The Garchomp was very fast, and broke my capture line a lot. It was also very unsettling that Ice was watching me this entire capture. He really made me feel uncomfortable. I probably got a lot more damage dealt to my styler than I would've if anyone else had been there. I also didn't use Pachirisu's help as much as I should've.

It took a while, but I finally managed to capture the giant purple Pokemon. It ran out of the building as Ice's Miniremo exploded.

"So," I said. "Are you having fun yet, Ice?"

"Oh, yes," Ice said. "You're not that bad, Sparky. I see why you're a Top Ranger. Let's play again if we see each other at tomorrow's event." He walked over to the hole in the wall. "I'm looking forward to it. See ya!" He jumped out of the Union, and I ran over to the hole.

"Hey!" I shouted. I was not done with him yet! "Come back here!" I was honestly prepared to jump out of the Union when Professor Hastings stopped me.

"Do not waste your time, Sparkette!" he said. "Chasing headlong after them plays right into their hands!"

I sighed. "Fine," I said. "So what do we do now?"

"There is still time before midnight, when Altru's birthday arrives," Professor Hastings replied. "It gives us time to rethink our operation!"

"I learned something that might help," I said. "Heath told me the Yellow Gem is hidden in the tower somewhere."

"Sparkette, that is a brilliant discovery!" Professor Hastings exclaimed. "Come, let us join the others upstairs!" I nodded, and walked upstairs to the next floor. Everything was already back to normal up here. I guess Keith dealt with whatever was going on quickly.

"Keith!" I said. He turned to me, then grinned.

"Hey, Sparkette!" he said, running over to me. "Is Ice gone?"

"Yup!" I replied. "So who did you face?"

"Blake Hall's creepy henchman and his army of Bidoof," Keith replied, with a completely serious look on his face.

I stared at him. "You're kidding, right?" Keith shook his head. "Wow. I'm so sorry." Keith laughed. We ran to stand in front of Chairperson Erma and Professor Hastings.

"The top priority for Operation Brighton will be shifted," Professor Hastings said. "Before everything else, Isaac and Melody must be rescued!" Why didn't you feel that way when Keith was kidnapped?

"Sparkette and Keith, I'm impressed by your work," Professor Hastings continued. "Despite being taken by surprise, you protected the Ranger Union HQ. That's worthy of a Mission Clear!" Keith and I smiled and high-fived.

"Professor Hastings!" Rhythmi called. "Sven is reporting in!" We all turned to her.

"They threw up a powerful barrier on top of the tower," Sven's voice said though the computer. "Even worse, the barrier has three layers."

"It's impossible for us to get close to the crystal from the sky!" Wendy's voice said. That's not good...

"I didn't expect things to go easily…" Chairperson Erma sighed, turning back to Keith and me.

"They must have kept it out of their blueprints for precisely this reason," Professor Hastings said. "How to eliminate the barrier... I can't think of a good approach."

Keith and I exchanged glances. Did Professor Hastings forget we existed again? We could probably figure out a way to break the barriers.

"Professor Hastings?" Chairperson Erma said. "Have you forgotten that we have two other Top Rangers?" Thank you!

"No, no, of course I've not forgotten," he replied. Then why didn't you send us? "But though they are Top Rangers, they simply lack experience." Excuse me? "As evidence, have a look at their expressions…" He turned to face Keith and I again. "Hmm? They're both glaring at me with determination in their eyes... Since when did either of you grow up to be so... capable and confident? Fine, I understand now. No more treating you two like rookies. I promise." Finally! "Keith and Sparkette, I'm assigning you a Mission truly worthy of Top Rangers."

Neither Keith nor I even tried to hide our excitement. In fact, I was so excited I could've hugged Keith! But I was content with fiddling with my new necklace, instead.

"All right," Professor Hastings said. "Listen carefully. First, you are to infiltrate Altru Tower and rescue Isaac and Melody. Next, you are to locate and secure the Yellow Gem. Once you find the gem, Keith is to take a Staraptor and fly the Yellow Gem to above the tower. You are to join up with Sven and Wendy." Keith nodded. "Sparkette, you are to remain in the tower by yourself. You're assigned the key role in Operation Brighton. You are to make your way up the tower while disabling the three barriers. After lifting the barrier, guide the three flying Rangers to the Shadow Crystal. It goes without saying that you will be faced with many foes on the way. It's a harrowing, challenging, and ultimately rewarding Mission!"

"Sven and Wendy in the sky," Chairperson Erma said. "Our dedicated Operators. The research staff that forego sleep to decipher the Diary. Murph with his happy cheer. Everyone has their own responsibilities, duties, their own purpose of being. Everyone is supported by each other. We all need each other. If no one forgets this, Operation Brighton cannot fail!" Keith and I nodded.

"Alright, people!" Professor Hastings exclaimed. "Operation Brighton part two! Let us restart!"

Keith and I cheered. Keith turned to me. "You ready to save Almia, Sparkette?" he asked.

"Only if you are," I replied.

"Let's do this," Keith said. I nodded, and we ran out of the Union together, followed by our cheerful Partner Pokemon.

* * *

**Yes, Sparkette has a list of people she wants to clober. For the record, it consists of the entire Sinis Trio, Mr. Kincaid, and probably Keith as well. **

**Anyway, review if you enjoyed! I'll try to update tomorrow, but it might not work out. And I will also try to finish the chapter I'm working on in Black... ahhhh too much stuff. **


	31. Operation Brighton is a go!

**Wow so I totally missed authors notes on this somehow. Anyway, this chapter is super long. I tried to find a place to split it, but it didn't work. Just a fair warning.**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

* * *

I hated to admit it, but Altru Tower was truly spectacular. If it wasn't for the ominous purple clouds and the three barriers at the top of the tower, it would really be beautiful. I quickly noted the color of the barriers, yellow, red and blue. Keith and I stopped in front of the stairs that lead to the building.

"I can't believe this is actually happening," Keith said.

"Me neither," I said. "A lot has changed since we last came here."

Keith nodded, but before he could speak another voice called out, "Hey! You in the full body leotards! Open the doors!"

Keith and I turned to the doors of the giant building to see a Team Dim Sun Admin standing there. A bunch of Altru Inc. employees were standing there.

"Is this some sort of a sick joke?" one of them demanded.

"The company can't just fire us without warning!" another employee exclaimed.

"Don't treat us workers like we're disposable!" said a third. "We demand an explanation for why we are being fired!" Wait, fired? Did that mean not all Altru employees were members of Team Dim Sun? That's good, I guess. At least Altru wasn't a completely evil organization. I felt kinda bad for those employees, though.

Keith and I ran up to the Admin. "Excuse me," Keith said. "But we need to get into that building. We have full clearance to enter."

"Rangers with full clearance to enter?" the Admin scoffed. "Don't make me laugh!" The Admin pulled out a Miniremo and summoned two Yanmegas. Keith and I caught them, with some help from our Partner Pokemon. We finished our captures at around the same time, and the Pokemon ran away. The Admin started to freak out as his Miniremo exploded.

"So can we go in now?" I asked.

"Do whatever you want!" the Admin shouted. "I don't care!" The Admin ran into the building, and I turned to Keith.

"Wow, what a drama queen," I said. "Shall we storm the tower, Keith?" Keith nodded, and we ran into the tower.

The first floor of the tower was exactly as I remembered it, other than the fact that it was completely empty. Keith and I exchanged glances, but didn't say anything as we started to run toward the elevator. We stopped when we heard a loud scraping sound behind us. We turned to see two Dim Sun minions blocking the doors with barricades. Oh great. It looked like we weren't going to be able to get out of here.

"There! That ought to do it!" one of the minions said.

"That ought to keep out law-abiding employees and annoying Rangers!" the other said.

I guessed they didn't notice we came in. "Hi there!" I said, cheerfully. Keith was holding back laughter.

"Oh, hey," one of them said, giving a casual wave. A few seconds later, they turned to us in shock.

"What the heck?!" the other minion exclaimed. Keith and I couldn't contain our laughter anymore. "How did Rangers get in here?"

"Oh, we came in through this amazing thing called a door," I replied.

"But... but... we barricaded it!" one of the minions said. "How did... but we… what?"

"Never mind that!" the other minion exclaimed. "Run away!" They turned to the door, only to realize they blocked it off. Apparently they couldn't figure out that they could just move the barricades, but whatever.

"Shall we continue?" I asked, gesturing to the elevator.

"We shall," Keith replied. We walked across the long room over to the elevator. There was a minion standing right next to the door. He turned to us, smiling. It was really unnerving.

"Hello, Rangers!" he said. "We've been expecting you!" He pushed a button on the door and a blinding red light started flashing, accompanied by a loud alarm. That could be considered not good.

Two minions came out of the elevator, one male, and one female. Following them was a female admin. Luckily the alarm died down upon their arrival.

"Kindly explain how Rangers could get this far?" the admin said. Um, the first floor wasn't very far.

"You're not getting away with anything!" Keith shouted. Suddenly, more minions appeared from nowhere and surrounded Keith and me.

"Ewww, you are so pushy and primitive!" the admin said. "Make them go away, minions!"

The minions starting to close in on us, causing Keith and I to draw closer and closer together. There was literally no way to escape. If there was, we would've done so by now. What were the minions going to do to us? Tie us up? Just throw us out? I would prefer the latter.

"Taaarget…"

What.

"Cleaaar!"

There was a loud crashing noise, and the front doors were completely obliterated. The three Vientown Rangers walked in.

"Sparkette, Keith!" Barlow exclaimed. "Are you two alright?" The minions backed away from us as Crawford, Luana and Barlow ran up to us.

Keith nodded. "We are, thanks to you!" he said. "What are you guys doing here, anyway?"

"We Area Rangers got called to support your Operation Brighton!" Barlow said.

"I'm glad you came!" I said. "Are you ready to have some fun?" The other four Rangers smirked, and we turned to the minions. They backed away from us in fear. Apparently five Rangers was very intimidating to seven minions.

Barlow and the other Vientown Rangers took the minions off to a corner, clearing a path for Keith and I. "You two keep going!" Barlow said. "We'll handle the small fry!"

"Thanks, Barlow," I said as Keith and I ran into the elevator.

The elevator was a lot larger than I thought it would be. It was able to fit two Rangers and two Pokemon with plenty of room to spare. There was one thing noticeably wrong with this elevator, though. There were no buttons in this elevator. And that was a slight problem.

"So how does this thing work?" I asked. "There aren't any buttons."

"I have no idea," Keith replied. Suddenly, there was a loud beeping sound. Another alarm?

Luckily, it wasn't an alarm. Instead, the beeping came from the elevator. "Welcome aboard!" a robotic voice said. "Please enter your password. When you have entered your password, you will be taken to your work floor." That's actually pretty cool…

"Password?" Keith repeated. "Where are we supposed to get a password?"

"Well, Isaac works here," I said. "So he must have a password."

"You're right!" Keith exclaimed. "Okay. Let's get ourselves in an Isaac state of mind. Let's see… what about Miniremo?"

Really, Keith? The password was so obvious! But I really wanted to see how long it took him to figure this out, so I said, "I don't think that's right."

Keith was lost in thought again. Really? Isaac literally told us the password. "Wanna just try password?" Keith suggested.

"Keith, Isaac is way too smart to make that his password," I said. Come on, Keith. You can do this.

"Wanna try mushroom?" Keith said. "Like his hair?"

"Would you use spiky or goofy-looking as your password?" I asked.

"Hey!" Keith exclaimed. "My hair isn't goofy!"

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that," I said. Keith glared at me, and I snickered. "But don't worry. I like your hair."

Keith's face lit up. "You do?" he said.

I nodded. "Now get back to trying to figure out the password, goofy head!"

Keith nodded, and stared at the ground, lost in thought. "Oh!" Keith exclaimed, after a few seconds. Yes? Did you get it yet? "What about Kincaid?"

"No! Just no!" I nearly shouted. "How stupid can you be, Keith? The password is Melody."

"Oh!" Keith said. "Duh." He entered the password into a small monitor on the elevator wall. There was another beeping sound.

"Welcome, Professor Isaac," the computer said. "We will stop on floor nine." Keith ran to stand next to me again. Pachirisu was sitting on Buizel's head.

"I can't believe it took you so long to figure that out," I said, as the elevator started to move.

"Wait, you knew the password all along?" he said. I nodded. "Then why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it out!" I said, cheerfully. "And you failed!"

"I really hate you sometimes, you know that?" Keith said, after a long pause.

"Yup!" I said. "And that is why we are such great friends!"

Suddenly, the elevator went black, and screeched to a stop. I couldn't see anything, and I almost fell over due to the sudden stop. "What's going on?" I exclaimed.

"The power must've gone out!" Keith said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, but this makes no sense!" I said. "Today is so important for Altru Inc, how could the power go out?"

Keith shrugged.

"Are you alright in there?" a voice called. What? Who was that? I did not like this… "I'm here to rescue you! Hold on!"

The lights flickered back on. Keith and I turned in shock to see a Dim Sun Admin standing right behind us. He had come into the elevator though a rope ladder. We backed away from him, slightly freaked out.

The admin laughed. "I lied!" he said. Yeah, I figured as much. "This is the end of the road for you two!" Oh no.

The admin laughed again as he pulled out a Miniremo. He tapped a few keys to summon two Dusclops. I took another step back from the Pokemon. I did not like Dusclops. They scare me. A lot. But not as much as their evolved form… I think their evolved forms are the reason I hate ghost Pokemon.

Keith decided he would handle this capture, although he didn't seem very happy about it. He didn't like ghost Pokemon, either. I wonder why he decided to do it…

"No! Please don't hurt me!" the admin cried, as his Miniremo exploded. Seriously, did either Keith or I look like we wanted to hurt you? Cause I really couldn't be bothered with such a simple task like that.

"Then how about letting us out of here?" Keith said.

"Fine, just go!" the admin said. "I have a rope ladder right here!" Keith grinned at me, then climbed up the ladder. I followed him. The ladder lead to an elevator shaft. I sighed. I guessed we were going to have to climb our way to the ninth floor… couldn't the admin have gotten the elevator to work again? That would've been nice.

Luckily, there was a long ladder on the right side of the shaft. Keith and I climbed up it, our Partner Pokemon clinging to our shoulders. It lead to yet another grated area. We were nowhere near the top of the shaft. Yay, more climbing.

Keith and I made our way up the long elevator shaft, stopping a few times to battle some Dim Sun Admins. I was surprised there were so many in an elevator shaft. Maybe they knew we were here… that could cause some complications. You could tell which leaders the admins worked for. The first one we went up against worked for Heath, the second Lavana, and the third Ice. It was really kind of annoying, and I was glad Keith was there to help me. I don't know what I would've done without him. After what felt like hours, we finally reached the top of the elevator shaft. But there was a small problem. It looked like there was no way we could continue. "So now what?" I said.

"Check this out," Keith said, walking over to a vent. He pulled of the grate blocking the vent. "I think we can crawl through."

"Great!" I said. "Good eye, Keith!" The two of us crawled into the vent. I kinda wished I was a Pokemon, because Pachirisu and Buizel were having no problem walking through the vent.

The vent was really long, and very uncomfortable. Everything went smoothly until Keith fell through the floor. I stopped short. "Keith?" I called. "Are you alright? Where did you go?"

"I'm fine!" Keith's voice called. "Sparkette, come down here! There's another floor, and a pile of garbage that breaks the fall!" Okay, ew. Oh well. Looks like I didn't have a choice.

I took a few steps forward and feel through a hole in the floor. Keith was right, there was a large pile of garbage to break my fall. And I was there to break our Pokemon's falls. That was not fun.

"Are you alright, Sparkette?" Keith said. He held out his hand, and pulled me to my feet.

"I'm fine," I replied. "We should keep moving, though. We're running out of time. Plus, it smells really bad in here."

Keith nodded, and we ran out of the room and into the next hallway. There was a large number nine on the wall, so I guess we ended up where we wanted to be. It's a shame the shaft didn't take us higher...

"Sparkette, hide!" What? Keith suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled me behind a wall. I then saw what he was so afraid of. Further down the hallway, there were three Dim Sun admins standing in front of an electronic gate. There was also one behind the gate, but I couldn't really see him as well. The gate was very tall, and there was no way either Keith or I could climb it.

A fourth admin ran up to the trio. "Hey!" he called. "I'm getting word that Rangers have infiltrated the building!" Oops. I guess climbing through an elevator shaft wasn't as inconspicuous as one might think. "Is the Yellow Gem Secure?" the admin finished. Yellow Gem? It was here! We had to get it!

"The Yellow Gem's in secure storage in the back here," the admin behind the gate replied. "This gate isn't about to open easily. There's nothing to worry about." Aw. I would like it if the gate opened easily.

"Yeah, our Miniremo units are the keys to the gates," another admin said. "Unless the Rangers can find and beat all of us, that gate's staying shut."

"Yeah, I agree with that," said a third. "Even Rangers can't take all of us out." Really? Cause I think we could.

"Okay, everyone understand their roles?" the gate admin said. "If we find any Rangers, we nab them a smidgen on the tight side." Ugh, again with that? I haven't heard that one for a while. It was nice. "That done, we march them to Ice and file our report! Got it?" I shuddered at the mention of Ice. He was the last person I would want to be brought to. That guy seriously creeps me out.

The four admins walked away, probably to go hide somewhere. Once we were in the clear, I turned to Keith.

"So, I'm guessing we don't want to get caught," I said.

"Definitely not," Keith agreed. "So what do you suggest we do?"

"I think we should split up," I replied. "That way we can defeat the admins more quickly, and get the Gem before anything happens."

"I don't know, Sparkette," Keith said. "It might be dangerous to split up. We are in Team Dim Sun's base, after all."

"Keith, why are you so worried about this?" I asked. "We are both perfectly capable Rangers, and it will be a lot faster if we split up. We are on a time limit here."

Keith sighed. "Fine," he said. "I trust you. Let's just get this over with. I'll take the rooms on the right, and you go to the left."

"Got it," I said. "Be careful, alright?"

"You too," Keith replied. Without another word, Keith ran into the room closest to us. I stared at the door for a while. Okay, maybe this wasn't the best idea… I really hoped Keith would be alright.

But I couldn't worry about that now. We needed to get that gem. And rescue Isaac, but we happened to find the gem first. I ran past the gate and into the room on the other side of the hall. I noted that there were four blue lights on the gate. The admin in the room was literally just standing in the middle of it. She turned to me, smiling.

"Hello, Ranger!" she said. "You've walked right into my trap! I'll capture you and take you to Ice! Mr. Hall will be so pleased!" No, don't take me to Ice. That would not be good. She pulled out her Miniremo, and summoned a Mismagius. Ugh, another ghost Pokemon. Fun.

Using Pachirisu's help, I captured the Mismagius. I was surprised the admin actually sent a Pokemon on me, because she knew if I broke it the gate would unlock. Oh well, it was convenient for me. I hoped Keith was having good luck as well.

"This could mean trouble for the gate…" the admin said, as her Miniremo exploded. I decided to go to the next room. On the way there, I noticed that two of the blue lights had turned red. I guessed this was what happened when I destroyed the Miniremo. But since two were gone, that meant Keith had succeeded as well. It also meant he was still safe, which was good.

The next room I came to was completely dark. It took a few seconds, but I eventually found a light switch. I flipped it on, and discovered a Dim Sun admin hiding behind a bookcase.

"I'm surprised you were able to find me, Ranger!" he said. "I'm impressed! But I'm not giving up the gate!"

He pulled out a Miniremo and summoned an Espeon. Yay, he was stupid, too! I caught it easily. It was much better than the Mismagius, anyway.

The guy started freaking out when I destroyed his Miniremo. "A crushing defeat…" he said. "I'll assume full responsibility for it… by running away!"

The admin shoved me aside and ran out of the room. "You know, if you didn't want me to defeat you, why did you pull out your Miniremo?" I called after him. I sighed. He was gone. Oh well, better go find Keith. I walked out of the room, followed by Pachirisu. Keith was out there waiting for me.

"Keith!" I exclaimed. He turned to me, grinning. It was at that point I noticed he was soaking wet. "Um, what happened? You look like you just got out of a swimming pool."

"Oh, right," Keith replied. "I had to set of the smoke detector to lure one of the admins out from his hiding spot. And that set off the sprinklers, so yeah. I feel kinda bad for the random scientist that was in that room, though…"

"Well, nevermind that!" I said. "Did you destroy the Miniremos?"

"Yup!" he said. "Did you?" I nodded. "Great! That means the gate should be open now. Let's hurry! We have to find that gem!"

I nodded once again, and we ran down the hallway. Keith was right, the gate had disappeared. I really wished I was there to see how that worked, but I wasn't. Oh well.

Instead of the gate, the only thing between us and the gem was an admin, who was literally standing in front of the door, his arms outstretched.

"I'm the gate now!" he exclaimed. "Try to get past me! I dare you!" Pretty flimsy gate if you ask me…

The admin pulled out a Miniremo, and summoned two Blaziken. Keith and I each caught one, destroying the Miniremo. "Oh no…" the admin said. "It just keeps getting worse!" he then ran off, leaving the door completely unprotected.

"So is he going to get backup, or is he just really stupid?" I asked.

"I don't know," Keith replied. "I'm hoping it's the second one."

"Well, we can't be too careful," I said. "Let's get that gem before more people try to stop us."

Keith nodded, and we walked into the next room. The Yellow Gem was floating above pedestal like thing with a big green button on it. There was an electrical barrier surrounding the gem.

"Yes!" Keith exclaimed. "We found it! Step one complete!"

"Wasn't this step two?" I asked.

"Who cares?" Keith replied. "Let's just take the gem!"

I nodded, and pushed the giant green button. The electrical barrier disappeared, allowing us to take the gem. I was surprised that actually worked. I was honestly expecting that button to do nothing. Oh well, guess their idiodicy had some use to me.

I took the gem from the pedestal. Keith and I were about to leave, when two scientists ran up to us.

"Please rescue Professor Isaac!" one of them said. "His sister Melody is being held hostage! They're threatening her with harm to make Professor Isaac comply! He's being forced into making the final adjustments on the tower's software!" Yeah, we already knew that. That's one of the reasons why we're here.

"Do you know where we can find him?" I asked.

"Professor Isaac should be up on the tenth floor," the other scientist replied. "Please rescue him. He's the brightest and youngest star among our firm's scientists."

"We'll do our best," Keith said. "Come on, Sparkette." Once again, we started to walk out of the room when the scientists stopped us.

"Oh!" the first exclaimed. "We almost forgot. We need to unlock the door for you." Yeah, that could be helpful. The scientist ran over to a giant computer in the back of the room and pushed a few keys. He then turned back to us.

"Okay, the lock's disabled. You can go up to the next floor now," he said.

"Thank you," I said. "Don't worry about Isaac. We'll find him." Finally, Keith and I were able to leave the room. We found a staircase at the end of the hallway. We ran up it. I didn't really get a chance to get a good look at the floor though, because the lights went out again.

"Sparkette?" Keith said. "Are you still there?"

"I'm here," I replied.

Keith sighed. "Good. Is this another power outage?"

"You could call it that," a new voice said. I took a step back, slightly freaked out now. Suddenly, the lights flashed back on, nearly blinding me. "Or you could call it a trap!"

Keith and I had been surrounded by five Dim Sun admins. I stepped closer to Keith, seriously freaked out. At least none of the Sinis Trio have made an appearance yet.

"Now you'll get payback for your elevator stunt!" the admin in the middle said. The other four admins each pulled out a Miniremo. Soon Keith and I were each in a capture with two Spinarak. Which was actually quite pitiful for Team Dim Sun. We were both able to finish our captures in five loops.

Apparently the admins thought that was a difficult capture, because all five of the admins started freaking out, even the one who didn't have a Miniremo. "Gah! We've blown this chance!" the Miniremoless admin said. "Retreat!"

The five admins ran off. Keith scoffed. "Wimps," he said.

"Let's go find Isaac now!" I said. I grabbed Keith's arm and dragged him down the hallway. I pulled him into the first room we came to. Inside, there was a generator. We shut it off using Isaac's password. Easy.

The generator was connected to an electric panel in the hallway. When we turned it off, we were able to continue through the hallway.

"What are you doing?" Isaac! His voice was coming from behind a door. I ran over to it, with Keith close behind me.

"Isaac!" I called. "Are you in there?"

"We've come to rescue you!" Keith said.

"Hey!" Isaac's voice called. "Keith! Sparkette! Help!" That's not good…

"Isaac," a new voice said. "Don't you care about your cute little sister? Hurry up and finish adjusting the system software! That's going to make Altru's birthday event a complete success." Definitely not good.

Keith grabbed the doorknob, only to find it stuck. The door had been locked. So Keith did the next logical thing, and slammed into the door. I joined him in this, but it was no good. The door wouldn't budge.

"Now what?" I said. "We have to get in there!"

"I don't know," Keith admitted. "It doesn't look like a Pokemon can do a Target Clear on it, either…"

Suddenly, my styler started beeping. Really? A voicemail now? "Voicemail, voicemail! Barlow here!"

"Hey, Barlow," Keith said. "What's up?"

"We've arrested all of the Dim Suns on the ground floor," Barlow's voice called through the styler. "We're about to head off to Pueltown so we can put down the troubles there. Give me a shout if you need anything!"

My styler beeped again as Barlow hung up. Keith turned to me. "Hey, Sparkette…" he said. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I really hoped so. Because this was going to be awesome.

"Well, it's probably the quickest and easiest way to get in…" I replied. "Let's get in touch with Barlow!"

Keith nodded, and pushed a few buttons on his styler. "Voicemail, voicemail," he said. "Sorry to call you right away."

"Barlow, we'd like to borrow your, uh, power," I said.

"My power?" Barlow repeated. "If you need something heavy lifted, you'll want Big Bertha… Or, do you mean my trademarked Field Move?"

"That's it!" Keith exclaimed. "That's the one!"

"We're very close to reaching Isaac but we can't get to him," I explained. "We're up on the tenth floor. The password for the elevator is Melody, then there are stairs leading up here."

"Got it," Barlow said. Keith's styler beeped. Barlow had hung up.

"We're in business!" Keith exclaimed. We highfived, then stood there for a second. "So how long do you think it will take him to get here?"

"Knowing Barlow," I said, smiling. "He'll be here in five… four…. three… two… and…"

"Sparkette! Keith! Sorry to keep you waiting!" Barlow was running up the stairs, and came over to Keith and I.

"Wait?" I said, laughing. "Hardly!"

"This door here?" he asked, walking over to the door. I nodded. "Hmm… that's quite the door, all right. Well, I've got to hand it to them. Altru does it right."

"Do you think you can break it?" Keith asked.

Barlow nodded, and said. "Naturally." Barlow took a few steps back, and shouted, "Target Clear!"

He charged at the door, but nothing happened. The door was still intact.

Barlow turned back to us, and said, "If this door was the enemy, I'd shake its hand for being so strong. You two, help me."

Keith and I smirked, then walked to stand behind Barlow. We all got fired up by doing our Ranger Poses, something that I haven't done in forever. We then turned back to the door, and charged at it, shouting, "TARGET… GROWAAAH!"

The door didn't stand a chance against the three of us. It was knocked off it's hinges the second we made contact with it. And it. was. awesome!

Keith, Barlow and I all fell onto the ground after breaking down the door. I got back up, laughing. "Let's do that again," I said. "That was fun."

"How about we don't," Keith said, also getting to his feet now.

"Aw, you're no fun," I said, pouting.

"Keith, Sparkette!" Isaac exclaimed. He was standing in the back of the room in front of a giant computer. A Dim Sun admin was next to him. Another admin was next to Melody, who was tied up to a chair. Keith and I ran forward.

"Rangers?" one of the admins exclaimed.

"We'll bill the Union for breaking that door!" the other admin exclaimed.

"Really?" I said. "You'll bill us? Your leaders blasted at least two holes in our walls, and made it impossible to go up to the roof!"

"They did?" the admin blinked. "How come I'm the last to know about this? Gah, never mind. You're too late, anyway. And just by a minute." That's not good…

"You're Isaac just made the final adjustments to the Incredible Machine," a female admin I didn't notice before said. "Good job tweaking the system software, Isaac!"

Isaac glared at the admins. "I did my part of the deal," he said. "Now let Melody go!"

"Oh, now why would we do that?" one of the male admins said. "We don't need you anymore, which means we can dispose of you, your little twerpy sister, and these Rangers all at the same time!" Oh no.

One of the admins pulled out a Miniremo and summoned an Alakazam, a Sceptile, and a Luxray. The Luxray charged at Melody, who shrieked, "Isaac!" But Isaac couldn't do anything, as he was being attacked by the Alakazam. I ran over in front of Melody, and started to capture the Luxray.

"Keith!" I shouted. "Help Isaac!" Keith nodded, and ran over to capture the Alakazam. I captured Luxray easily, then moved on to the Sceptile. Keith was having slight difficulties with the Alakazam, but that was understandable, because it really liked teleporting around all the time.

After capturing the Sceptile, I untied Melody's ropes. She immediately ran over to where Isaac was standing and pounced on him. Keith finished his capture, causing the Miniremo to explode. Keith and I turned to the three admins.

"So," I said. "What were you saying about disposing of us?"

The admins backed away from us in fear. "This can't happen!" one of the male admins exclaimed.

"Is this what being tough is all about?" the other male said.

"We have no choice now!" said the female. "We have to go with our final option! Run away!" Wimps.

The three admins started to run out of the room, but they didn't get very far. Barlow stopped them, and they backed up against a wall in fright. Yeah, I would probably do that too if Barlow was mad at me. He's a pretty scary dude.

"Sparkette… Keith… I'm sorry," Isaac said. We turned to him. He was holding Melody on his shoulders. "I completed that wicked program…"

"Save it," I said. "We don't care."

"The only important thing is that you and Melody are safe," Keith said. "Let us Rangers handle things from here on out!"

"Then let me come with you," Isaac said, putting Melody down. "I know my way around the tower pretty well. And I know how to disable the barriers. If I'm being an impediment, I'll notice it and try to stay out of your way."

"Isaac, of course you can come with us!" I said. "And I'm sure you won't be an impediment, whatever that means." Keith nodded in agreement, but before he could say anything Barlow walked up to us cheerfully.

"That's settled, then!" Barlow said. It's only because of Isaac that this operation came together. It's only right that he sees it to the end!"

"Yeah!" Keith agreed. "We wouldn't want it any other way!" Isaac smiled at us.

"And don't worry about your sister," Barlow said. "I'll escort her back to safety in Pueltown. It'll mean dragging around those clowns from earlier, but it's no biggie. Sparkette, Keith and Isaac… the success of Operation Brighton is in your hands! Let's go, Melody."

Melody nodded, and walked over to Barlow. She turned to Keith and I and said, "Thank you, everyone! Isaac! When you get home, promise to spend lots of time with me!"

Isaac smiled, and nodded. That's a promise I'm sure he'll keep.

Barlow lead the three admins and Melody out of the room. I turned to my friends. "Are you guys ready to go?" I asked. Keith and Isaac nodded, and we walked out of the room together.

"So, Isaac," I said. "How do we get to the next floor?"

"Just follow me," Isaac replied.

We started to walk down the hallway, but we were stopped when we heard voices call out, "Rangers! Rangers?! I hate Rangers!" Oh yeah? Well we hate you, too. "Those pesky Rangers! There they are!" Oh come on.

A half a dozen Dim Sun admins ran up to us. Keith and I stood on either side of Isaac, blocking him from harm. One of the admins shouted, "Charge!" All six of them pulled out Miniremos, and soon I was in a capture with three Bronzor, and Keith had to capture three Skorpi. Which really wasn't that big of a deal. Both Keith and I finished our captures easily, causing the Miniremos to explode.

"We had numerical superiority…" one of the admins said. "It's frustrating, but retreat!" All six of the admins ran away.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked. The boys nodded. "Good. Let's keep moving." We ran through the hallway, only stopping once to turn off another generator. In a few minutes we reached another staircase, but it was blocked off by an purple electrical gate. Isaac walked up to it.

"Can you unlock the door?" Keith asked.

"Of course I can!" Isaac exclaimed. "Just give me a second."

Keith and I stood there awkwardly while Isaac disabled the lock. I fiddled with my necklace, and Pachirisu just chased her tail. Luckily it only took him about a minute to break the lock.

"We should keep moving," Isaac said. "There's not much time left." Keith and I nodded, and followed Isaac up the stairs. These stairs lead outside, to a balcony type thing. The sky was dark. Isaac was right. We didn't have a lot of time left.

"Let's update Professor Hastings," Keith suggested. I nodded, but we ended up not even having to call. Pretty much the second Keith raised his styler, it started beeping. I assumed it was Professor Hastings, because he was very impatient and probably wouldn't wait for us to call.

"Voicemail, voicemail!" Yup, it was Professor Hastings! "I got word from Barlow! Excellent work, you two! Keith, I'm having a Staraptor sent to you now. You are to ride it, carrying the Yellow Gem. Sven and Wendy are expecting you. They are on standby above the tower." The styler beeped again. The professor had hung up. Shame, I kinda wanted to talk to Rhythmi.

I pulled out the Yellow Gem and handed it to Keith. "Hey," I said. "Don't do anything too idiotic up there, alright?"

Keith smiled. "I won't. Provided you don't do anything too dangerous without me."

"I don't know if that's possible," I replied. "I am charging into the heart of Team Dim Sun's base, you know."

"Well, I don't know if it's possible for me to not be an idiot!" Keith replied.

I laughed. "Yeah, probably not."

"Hey, guys!" Isaac called. "I hate to break this up, but the Staraptor's almost here!" Keith and I turned to Isaac, who was absolutely right. The Staraptor was about to land on the roof. Keith walked over to it and climbed on, with Buizel on his shoulders. I walked over to him. Isaac stayed by the stairs, a few feet away from us.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"So ready!" Keith replied. "More than ready! This is exciting beyond words!"

"How about thrilling beyond words!"

I turned to see Lavana standing outside an elevator. She had a Magmortar with her, and was smirking at me. It was really unnerving.

"Hit it!" she called, pointing directly at me.

The Magmortar charged at me.

"Sparkette! Watch out!"

Keith rammed his Staraptor into me, knocking me off my feet and out of harm's way. I could only watch in horror as the Magmortar crashed into Keith, knocking the Yellow gem out of his hands, and sending him flying off the roof.

"Keith!" I shouted. I leapt to my feet and ran over to the edge of the roof, completely ignoring the gem. No... That did not just happen. Keith... you idiot! Please… please... you didn't just do that, that didn't just happen. No…

I collapsed onto the ground. Keith… why did you do that? I can't lose you. Please please tell me he's alright. I don't think I could live with myself if I lost him like that... He was protecting me! Idiot... idiot!

"We'll just take this back, thank you very much!" Lavana said, picking up the Yellow Gem. I turned to her. She was the one who did this. It was her fault.

I was fully prepared to charge at Lavana. That jerk… no one hurts Keith and gets away with it!

I didn't get very far, though, because the tower started rumbling. Which was not good.

Even Lavana seemed confused as to why the tower was rumbling. "What?" she said. "The Incredible Machine's flipped on already? Oh, that's right. The Incredible Machine is designed to slowly creep up to one hundred percent. By midnight, the tower will be at full power." Definitely not good. Lavana smirked. "Looks like you're running out of time, Sparkette. It's such a shame you don't have time to look for your friend, if he even survived!"

Lavana walked back into the elevator, laughing. The Magmortar followed her. I still couldn't believe everything that just happened. Keith was gone. He had just been knocked off a roof. Because of me. No…

"Sparkette?" Isaac said slowly. "Are you ready to keep moving? We can stay here for a while, if you want to."

"No. Not here. Keep moving sounds good," I replied. No it didn't. Not without Keith.

Isaac nodded, but didn't say anything. Which was probably good. I wasn't really in the mood for talking.

Unfortunately, most people weren't as considerate as Isaac. Before we could even move, my styler started beeping.

"Voicemail, voicemail!" Professor Hastings called. "Sparkette, what is going on up there? Where is Keith? He hasn't joined Sven and Wendy yet!"

"That's because he got knocked off a roof…" I replied. Isaac looked like he wanted to say something, but thought better of it when I glared at him.

"Sparkette, do not worry about Keith," Professor Hastings said. "We will send a search party out for him immediately. But you must keep going up!"

"Sparkette," Rhythmi's voice called. "Keith will be fine. He doesn't go down that easily."

"Yeah… right," I said, not really believing it. "Well, Isaac and I better get going, so…"

"Wait!" Professor Hastings exclaimed. "We have some good news for you!" Did you find Keith? Cause that's the only news that I wanted to hear. "Our research team of Vantona and Nage have made a breakthrough! They completed the styler software that makes the impossible possible!" So? "They've named it the Incredible Program. And indeed that's what it is! It's designed to work with the three pendants made from the Tears of Princes. Those colored stones were fitted into your styler, if you recall." They were? "We'll send the Incredible Program to your styler in a minute." How about now? Because the sooner I finish this Mission, the sooner I can look for Keith. "That will transform your styler into the one and only Vantonage styler! Using this styler, you will be able to capture Pokemon that are under control of the Incredible Machine. We are sending the program now. Good luck. The fate of the Almia region is in your hands."

The styler beeped as Professor Hastings finally hung up. Finally we could go after Lavana. I ran into the elevator, leaving Isaac and Pachirisu in my wake.

**Am I the only one crying? Seriously, this scene gets me every time. Even in the game. I just can't.**

**Please Review!**


	32. Breaking the Barrier System

**Hi guys! We're back with another chapter of Shadows of Almia! **

**I had sooooo much fun writing this chapter. I'm sure you'll see why later on.**

**Also, a huge thanks to CallmeEevee and "guest" for reviewing!**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

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"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER LEVEL IS CURRENTLY ONE. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL TWO IS… FIFTY PERCENT. I REPEAT, FIFTY PERCENT. POWER IS RISING STEADILY. THERE ARE NO ABNORMALITIES."

Not good. The tower was almost at level two! We had to hurry! And the tower can talk? That's really cool… it was a shame this place was used for evil.

"Sparkette, we have to hurry!" Isaac said.

"I know!" I snapped. Isaac shrunk back from me a little bit. "How do we break the barriers?"

"There are three barrier-control floors above us," Isaac explained. "I didn't design the barrier system, but I know how most of it is set up. On each floor, there will be a Circuit Ball that feeds power to a barrier layer."

"Okay!" I said. "Let's get going, then!" The sooner I did this, the sooner I could help find Keith. So now we needed to hurry for multiple reasons.

"Actually, there is a small problem," Isaac said. "More like three small problems. Each Circuit Ball guarded by a member of the Sinis Trio."

"That's not a problem at all," I said. "Let's just get this over with."

I ran up the stairs to the next floor, and Isaac hurried after me. The next floor was a giant circle. And of course the door to the control room was on the other side of the floor. Yay, pointless walking!

I ran around the room to get to the door, and walked inside. Isaac was right behind me, along with Pachirisu. Neither of them were annoying me, which was probably a good thing. I was so ready to be done with this. And I didn't even run into Ice yet!

Heath was in the control room waiting for me. He had a Rhyperior standing behind him. "Hello, Sparkette!" he said, cheerfully. "How you doing? Even you bringing Isaac, the traitor! Everyone here! Except your Keith, of course. Lavana did very good job."

"Look, Heath," I said, glaring at him. "I really need to break that Circuit Ball, and you're the only thing in my way. So how about changing that?"

Heath took a step back from me, then smirked. "Silly Sparkette. You think I be coming alone? You may abandon your Keith, but I abandon not my cute little Rhyperior."

"I did not abandon him!" I shouted. "I would never abandon him!"

Heath laughed. "Keith, he be very good friend, yes? Shame you couldn't help him." I glared at him. "So, you say you coming to break Circuit Ball? Allowing not so!" Finally, we were getting to the point!

Heath stepped aside, allowing his Rhyperior to charge at me. I stood in front of Isaac, blocking him from harm's way, and captured the giant Pokemon.

The Rhyperior wasn't that hard to capture. I think Heath will forever underestimate me. I was a lot tougher than I looked. Though I wasn't really complaining. It made captures a lot easier. Even without Pachirisu's help, it only took a few minutes to capture the Pokemon.

"Losing! Again and again! Depressing me, losing is," Heath exclaimed, as his Rhyperior ran away.

"Sorry, Heath," I smirked. "But it looks like your Rhyperior's abandoned you."

Heath glared at me and said, "Who is caring about that? Barrier system is not break easy. Bye-bye, Sparkette!"

Heath shoved me aside as he stormed out of the room. I turned to Isaac. "So how do we disable this thing?" I asked.

"Easy. You break it with a Target Clear," Isaac replied. "Heath probably programed the Circuit Ball so you can't do a Target Clear on it, but I think he forgot I was the one who taught him how to do that."

"Please undo it, then," I said. Isaac nodded, and walked over to the giant yellow Circuit Ball. I honestly couldn't tell what he was doing, but it looked impressive.

After waiting for a moment, Isaac turned to me. "There!" he said. "Trap disabled in one point thirty eight seconds! You should be able to do a Target Clear safely now."

Good. I pointed my styler at the orb. Crush Field Move. I ran outside of the control room and captured a Golem. It was able to break the Circuit Ball easily.

"Let's keep moving," I said. Isaac nodded, and we ran up to the next floor. I glanced out the window. Only two barriers left.

Suddenly, the tower started rumbling again. There was a loud dinging sound.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER IS CURRENTLY LEVEL ONE. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL TWO IS… TWENTY PERCENT. I REPEAT, TWENTY PERCENT. POWER IS RISING STEADILY THERE ARE NO AB… AB… ABNORMALITIES."

"Isaac, we have to hurry!" I shouted. I grabbed Isaac and dragged him into the next control room.

"Well, hello there!" Lavana said, as Isaac and I ran into the control room. "You seem to be having fun. Such a shame your friend isn't here to enjoy this with you. You know, he was a lot easier to defeat than I expected. He really has such a big weakness."

Oh, she did not just say that! Keith does not go down without a fight! I started to charge at Lavana, when Isaac grabbed my arms. "Isaac!" I shouted. "Let go of me!"

"Sparkette!" Isaac exclaimed. "This isn't going to help!"

"Yes it will!" I said.

Lavana laughed. "Looks like it's your weakness, too! How cute." I glared at Lavana, but Isaac was still preventing me from attacking her. "You're too late, though. I've already hidden away the Yellow Gem. It's way too heavy to carry around."

"You think I actually care about that stupid rock?" I demanded.

Lavana laughed again. "Nope! But you should remember who's supposed to have that stupid rock right now!"

"Shut. Up," I growled. "Or you are going to regret it."

Lavana smirked. "Wow, this plan worked a lot better than I expected! You really care about this boy, don't you? He obviously cared about you. What was his name again?" I didn't reply. "Oh, come on! Have you already forgotten his name? You should try to be a better friend! He was so nice to you. Sacrificing himself to save you, so sweet."

"Stop talking about him in the past tense!" I shouted. "You can't get rid of Keith that easily!"

"Sure, if that's what you want to tell yourself," Lavana smirked. "You know, it's such a shame he isn't here to protect you now. Would you like to be with Keith again? 'Cause I can make that happen! Magmortar! Show this little brat what you can do!"

It was at that point I realised that stupid Magmortar was standing with Lavana. Magmortar charged at me, and Isaac finally released my arm, allowing me to capture the Pokemon. This capture was a lot harder than Rhyperior. Magmortar really liked to burn and explode things. I'm honestly surprised he didn't damage anything in the room. Other than my styler. But when I brought Pachirisu into the capture, it was pretty easy. Especially since I really just wanted that thing to go away. It still took a while to capture the red Pokemon, though.

"But… how?" Lavana demanded. "How could you beat me? Again?"

"You're right, Lavana," I said. "I do have a pretty big weakness. Unfortunately for you, it's also my greatest strength."

Lavana tried to say something, but no words came out. A few seconds later, she smirked again. "You know, if you want the Yellow Gem back, you should visit my friend. He's up on the next floor, and I'm sure he'll be delighted to play with you." I shuddered. She was talking about Ice. He had the gem.

Lavana sashayed out of the room. I turned to Isaac, and nodded. He walked over to the giant red Circuit Ball in the back of the room. Once again, he fiddled with some stuff and turned to me.

"Ha!" he said. "This time I disabled it in one point seven seconds!"

"No offence Isaac, but I don't care," I said. Isaac laughed feebly. I pointed my styler at the orb. Water Field Move. I ran out of the control room, once again leaving Isaac alone, and found a Vaporeon to break the Circuit Ball. Second barrier down.

"Let's go, Isaac," I said. He nodded and we walked out of the room. Once again, the tower started rumbling.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. POWER LEVEL IS CURRENTLY AT LEVEL ONE. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL TWO IS… TEN PERCENT. I REPEAT, TEN PERCENT. POWER IS RISING STEADILY THERE ARE NO ABNONORMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA… ABNORMALITIES."

"Sounds like the system is acting up," Isaac said. No kidding.

"Do you think it's because of us?" I asked. Isaac shrugged. "Well, that's not important. The Incredible Machine is almost at level two! There's only one barrier left, we have to hurry!"

Isaac nodded, and we ran up the stairs to the next floor. Wow, Isaac was actually running. I guess the end of the world really changes people.

We ran into the blue control room. It was completely empty. Ice wasn't even there. "Isaac, hurry up and disable the barrier," I said. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"Aw, leaving so soon, Sparky?" I froze. I turned to see Ice standing behind me. Ice did a little bow. He then looked up at me, smirking. "You didn't even give me a chance to welcome you to Altru Tower."

"Save it, Ice," I said. "I don't have time for your little games!"

Ice laughed. "Come on, Sparky! Pretty soon the date will change. By then it will be too late. So why not hang out with me for a while?"

"Let's see…" I said. "Oh! Here's a good reason! I don't like you!"

Ice smirked. "Now why would that be? I've never done anything to you!"

"Well, for one thing, you tried to kidnap my friend," I said.

"Oh, you mean the boy genius over there?" Ice said. "Well, I didn't. Lavana came in and stole the show. So you can't blame that one on me!"

"What about the time when you blasted a hole in the wall? You could've hurt someone!" I shouted.

"Like who, your spiky haired boyfriend? Because I think Lavana covered that one as well!" Ice smirked.

"He is not my boyfriend!" I shouted. "So add that comment to the list of reasons I don't like you!"

Ice laughed, and flipped his hair. "Wow, Sparky. You need to chill." I glared at Ice. "Now, how about joining me in the countdown to Almia's new beginning?" He held out his hand. I slapped it away.

"How about no," I said.

Ice sighed. "You leave me no choice, then. Gallade, get these interlopers off the premises! We can't have them ruining Almia's future!"

Suddenly, a Gallade ran in through the door. Ice casually sidestepped out of its way, allowing the Pokemon to charge at me. I hastily pulled out my styler.

Apparently Ice was the only person who understood my abilities. The battles with Lavana and Heath were nothing compared to this. Gallade was part psychic type, and loved to teleport all over the place. I never knew where it was going to go. It also had very strong attacks that were hard to dodge. And the fact that Ice was there wasn't helpful at all. Luckily, Pachirisu was really helpful in this capture. Her attacks prevented Gallade from teleporting. So that made the capture a lot easier.

"What the…" Ice said, staring at me as his Gallade ran away. "Brought down by some kids…"

"Sorry, Ice," Isaac said. "but I'd like a look at your lame booby-trap program." Isaac walked over to the Circuit Ball. Ice's smirk came back. Oh no…

Isaac started to fiddle with the Circuit Ball. But nothing happened. "Huh?" he said, after a few seconds of silence. "This isn't the ameteur hour program I taught the trio!"

"What?" I said, running over to Isaac. Isaac turned back to the orb and tried something else. But again, nothing happened.

Ice laughed. I turned to him. "It looks like I get the last laugh after all, Sparky!" he exclaimed. "I wasn't satisfied by that simple program you taught us, Isaac! So I studied programing like there was no tomorrow. And there might not be a tomorrow for you if everything goes as planned!"

Suddenly, the tower started rumbling. Oh no…

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER IS CURRENTLY LEVEL ONE. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL TWO IS… VERY LITTLE. I REPEAT, VERY LITTLE. THERE ARE NONONO ABABABABNONONONORMMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMAMA THERE ARE NO ABNORMALITIES."

Ice chuckled. "Sounds like abnormalities galore. Still, it seems certain that you two are out of time. Such a shame, too. It really didn't have to be this way, Sparky. We could've had so much fun together."

"Sparkette, don't worry!" Isaac said, his face panicked. "I'll crack the trap program! Everything will be fine!" Isaac turned back to the orb.

"Well, Isaac," Ice said. "it looks like you're still bad at accepting hopeless situations. It's what made it possible to come up with that great invention, I guess you'd say."

Suddenly, Lavana and Heath burst into the room. They ran to stand next to Ice. "We failing at orders from boss," Heath said.

"I'm back from fixing my makeup," Lavana said. Sure, that's where you went.

Ice turned to his group. "Your booby-trap programs were junk," he said. "They had amatuer written all over them. Thanks to your ineptitude, these pests have crawled their way up here." Lavana and Heath shrunk back from Ice. Even I was a little freaked out by his sudden change in attitude. "Bah, moaning about your sorry efforts won't get the job done! Lend me your Pokemon! I'd like to play a little game with Sparky here to pass the time." And there was the Ice I know and hate!

The entire Sinis Trio smirked as me as Rhyperior, Magmortar, and Gallade smashed through the ceiling. I took a step back, nearly running into Isaac.

"Oh, very good!" Heath exclaimed. "Goodly done! Sparkette, no chance of victorying! That's good jobbing, Leader!"

"Are you ready to have some fun, Sparky?" Ice smirked.

"Because I know we are!" Lavana said.

The three Pokemon charged at me. These Pokemon were hard enough to capture on their own. But trying to capture them together was nearly impossible. But once I did the captures individually, it wasn't that much of a problem. They were a lot easier to capture the second time. Maybe it was because I was used to their attacks? I honestly don't know. I captured them in the same order, Rhyperior, Magmortar, then Gallade.

"So," I said, as the three Pokemon ran away, hopefully for good this time. "Are you guys having fun yet? Because I know I am!"

Lavana and Ice glared at me. Heath tugged on Ice's sleeve. "Leader! Our boss! He is on top! Of here! Protecting him, we should be doing!" When Ice didn't say anything, Heath ran out of the room.

"I'm too ashamed to be showing my face in front of the boss!" Lavana exclaimed. "Not after being beaten by this brat again!" She too rushed out of the room.

"You pair of spineless losers!" Ice shouted, turning to the door. "That battle was only for show! Something to whittle away some time! It doesn't matter if we lost! There's no way he can crack the trap program!"

"Oh really? Guess again!"

Ice and I turned to Isaac, who was grinning.

Ice stared at him, wide-eyed. "No…" he whispered. "You didn't…"

Isaac turned to us. "I did!" he said. "I must say I'm impressed though, Ice. I'm surprised you managed to master such a complex program in such a small amount of time."

"No way…" Ice said. "Having Isaac as an enemy is terrifying…"

"Yep!" I said, cheerfully. "Maybe if you were nicer to him you could still have him as a friend!"

Ice glared at me. "You know what, Sparky? Just take the stupid gem. Take it and leave." Ice literally threw the giant rock at me. I really didn't want it. But I also didn't want Operation Brighton to fail, so I reluctantly picked up the rock.

"But don't think this will help you!" Ice shouted. "You're already too late! It's almost midnight! When the date turns, there is no hope of your plan succeeding!"

"Wow, Ice," I smirked. "You really need to chill."

"You haven't won yet, Sparky!" Ice yelled. "Blake Hall is waiting for you! There is no way you can beat him!"

Ice stormed out of the room. I smiled. Beating the Sinis Trio really lightened my spirits! "Sparkette, I'm sorry I took so long," Isaac said. I turned to him. "But you can do a Target Clear now."

"Thanks, Isaac," I said. I pointed my styler at the orb. Electric. Easy. "Pachirisu, I think you can handle this one!"

Pachirisu nodded and released an electric attack. The orb shattered. The final barrier was down.

"Hit the deck!" Isaac shouted. He placed a hand on my shoulder and shoved me to the ground. A small explosion went off above us.

"What the heck was that?" I asked, as Isaac and I got to our feet.

"That trap had a time delay on it," Isaac replied, brushing off his lab coat. "Are you alright?" I nodded. Isaac sighed with relief. "Good. We need to get you to the top. I can't believe Ice was able to master that programming so fast. He chose the wrong path. Like I did…"

"Hey, it wasn't your fault," I said. "Once this is all over, I'm sure the Union will be more than happy to give you a job. You're really talented, Isaac." Isaac smiled at me.

"We'd better keep moving," he said. "It's almost midnight!"

I nodded, and we started to run through the tower. My styler started beeping on the way. I answered it as we were running. "Voicemail, Voicemail!" Sven! "The barrier is down! Good job, Sparkette! Now we can get close to the Shadow Crystal!"

"Is there any word from Keith yet?" I asked. I was really worried about him.

"Not yet," Wendy called. "But I wouldn't worry about him too much."

"Yeah, he's a Top Ranger!" Sven said. "He'll be fine! Just watch. Knowing Keith, he'll make some dramatic entrance about it."

"Yeah… right…" I said. We had stopped running. Isaac was standing next to me awkwardly.

"Sven!" Wendy shouted. "You are so not helping!"

"What?" Sven said. "Come on, Wendy! I'm totally helping."

"Voicemail!" Professor Hastings somehow managed to come into our call. I didn't even know that was possible. "Sven and Wendy, I want you to circle the tower, getting as close to it as possible. Even the two gems you have will have an effect on the Shadow Crystal!"

"Roger!" Sven said.

"Understood!" said Wendy.

"I have the third gem, if that helps at all," I said.

"When did you get the Yellow Gem?" Professor Hastings asked.

"A few seconds ago," I replied. "Ice gave it back to me."

"Amazing work, Sparkette!" Professor Hastings exclaimed. "Then you are to try to get as close to the crystal as you can from the land! Operation Brighton shall not fail!"

My styler beeped again as everyone hung up. "Let's keep moving," Isaac said. "We're almost at the top!"

I nodded, and we continued to run through the tower. The tower rumbled once again as we were climbing up the stairs. It was the strongest the rumbling had been so far, and knocked me back a few steps. Isaac was smart and clung to the railing.

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER HAS REACHED LEVEL TWO. POWER NEEDED FOR LEVEL THREE IS… NINETY NINE PERCENT MORE. NINETY EIGHT PERCENT MORE. NINETY SEVEN PERCENT MORE. NINETY SIX PERCENT MORE. NINETY FIVE PERCENT MORE. THERE ARE NO POEAKDOEIHDFSEOKDY BZZZZZZT GWEEEEE GZGZGZGZGZGZGZGZ ZZZZTTTTT"

The tower shook once again. This time I was also clinging to the railing. "This is bad!" Isaac shouted over the rumbling. "Once the tower reaches level two, it takes almost no time to get to the third level! President Hall is on the roof. Let's hurry!"

Finally, the rumbling died down. We were able to continue running up the tower. The next floor had a strange computer machiney thingy on the right side of the room, in a separate little roomy thingy. Even Isaac didn't know what it was, because he said, "Huh? What's this machine? I've never seen it around before…"

"Well, there's no time to think about that!" I said. "We're almost there!"

Isaac nodded, and we ran over to the left side of the room where the staircase to the roof were. There was one small problem, though. There was an electric panel in front of the stairs. There was no way we could go up.

"Now what?" I asked.

"This machine must control the electric panel," Isaac replied. He ran over to the machine, and I followed him. Although, I did stay out of the separate roomy thing. It wasn't that big, there was only enough space for one person.

"Let's see…" Isaac said, examining the machine. "Yep! This is definitely it! It's probably the same as before. It must have been programed by Ice."

"Great!" I said. "So you won't have a problem disabling it?"

"Nope!" Isaac said, cheerfully. He pushed a few keys on the computer, and the electric trap behind me shut off. Yes! Now we could go up to the top!

"Isaac, you did it!" I exclaimed. "Let's go!"

Isaac nodded. He started to walk out of the roomy thing, but didn't make it very far. Green rays blocked the exit, and separated me from Isaac.

"Isaac!" I shouted. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine! Ugh, I'm such an idiot! It's the same time-lapse trap from before! I should've known…" Isaac exclaimed.

"Isaac, don't worry! I'm going to get you out of there!" I said. I started to tug at the little electric thingys that were emitting the rays, but it was no good. Even when I kicked one of them, nothing happened. I couldn't get them to turn off.

"Sparkette… I'm sorry," Isaac said. "You have to go on without me. I'll be fine."

"No!" I shouted. "I'm not losing another friend tonight!"

"Sparkette!" Isaac exclaimed. "Seriously, I can find a way out of this by myself! It's not that big of a deal!"

"But Isaac…" I said. "I don't think I can do this alone!"

"Sparkette, you can, and you will," Isaac said.

"I don't know…" I said. "I really don't think I'm ready for this."

"Yes, you are," Isaac said. "Trust me. You are the only one who can do this. And you aren't alone. Sven and Wendy are there for you. You have Pachirisu. Everyone at the Union is rooting for you. Rhythmi is cheering for you. I'm cheering for you. And wherever he is, Keith will always be there for you. And he will be here as soon as he can. I know it. Because he really cares for you. And he would not leave you alone. Not when you need him the most."

"Isaac… thank you," I said. "And don't worry. After this is over, we'll send someone to rescue you."

"I never was worried," Isaac said. "And I think I'm the one who should be thanking you. You believed in me, even though I was with the bad guys. You even got everyone at the Union on my side!"

"Well, Rhythmi and Keith helped with that one," I said. "All of us are your friends. And we will always be there for you."

Isaac smiled at me.

"Sparkette, you should get going," he said. "You don't have a second to waste. See you tomorrow."

"See ya," I said. Isaac gave a little wave as I ran toward the stairs. I stopped in front of the staircase that lead to the roof. I took a deep breath. Was I really ready for this? I didn't think I was. I haven't even been a Ranger for a year! I could not do this!

No… but I had to.

Everyone was counting on me. I had to do this for them. For everyone back at the Union. For the Vientown Rangers who were always there to support me. For Rhythmi who was always there when I needed her. For Isaac who sacrificed so much just to help me get here.

And for Keith.

Above everyone else, I had to do this for Keith. He's always been there when I've needed him. And I know he's out there. And he's counting on me. I needed to do this for him. Because he is my best friend. And he would do the same for me.

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**I promise to update asap! **

**Please review! **


	33. The Final Showdown

**And this is the final chapter of Shadows of Almia! I'm actually kinda sad about it... and now I need to write more... ughhhh writing gets in the way of life and I don't like it.**

**And a thanks to CallmeEevee, dragonwolf416, and "guest" for reviewing!**

**Anyway, read, review, and enjoy!**

* * *

"THIS IS ALTRU CORE COMPUTER. THIS IS ALTRUTRUTRUTRURURURU… THE INCREDIBLE MACHINE'S POWER IS NOW LEVEL THREE! LEVEL THREE! LEVELEVELEVELEVELEVEL THREE! THIS IS ALTRU THIS IS ALTRU THIS IS ALTRU ALMIA GHZGZGZ…"

The computer's voice sounded creepy as I ran up to the roof. I did not like the sound of the machine reaching level three. Isaac said that when the tower reached level three, all of the Pokemon in Almia would be under it's control. Which was not good.

"Ah, welcome, Sparkette!"

Blake Hall was standing at the top of the steps that lead to a platform, along with Heath and Wheeler. Behind him was a giant computer thing, with three bars on next to it. They were lit up in a green color. I assumed they represented the three levels of power for the machine. Behind the machine was the giant Shadow Crystal. I hated to admit it, but the Shadow Crystal was very beautiful. Something about its mysteriousness was really entrancing.

"Well, I'll be… I seem to be out of business cards. How careless of me," Blake said, smirking. "No matter. You remember me from some time ago? I met you when Isaac gave you a tour of the front lobby."

"Do you make a habit to remember all of your visitors, or am I a special case?" I asked, sarcastically.

"Well, you have been in the paper multiple times," Blake said. "And I have many close friends that have told me so much about you." I stepped away from Blake, causing him to laugh. "Now, I understand that you've named your little operation after my father. How cute."

"Operation Brighton is going to be a success!" I shouted. "I will defeat you!"

"You know, it's quite an honor to see someone go through so much to visit me," Blake smirked. "Although, I can't say I'm surprised. I know everything about you, Sparkette. You? Defeating me? Please. It will be the other way around."

"Don't underestimate me, Blake!" I said, totally freaking out on the inside. "It would be the worst mistake you've ever made."

"I don't believe I'm underestimating you," Blake said, calmly. "Even if I was, it wouldn't matter. You're too late. The Incredible Machine is already at level three. There's nothing you can do now."

"Oh yeah?" I said. "Try me."

"Oh, Sparkette. Don't kid yourself," Blake said. "I don't believe you understand the full power of the Incredible Machine. By now, its reach extends to the Almia region in its entirety. This brings all the Pokemon in Almia under my full and complete control."

"And what do you expect to do with that power?" I asked, glaring at Blake.

"My bidding, of course!" Blake smirked. "I can have them excavating and mining. I can use them as cargo transports. Pokemon can be individually used to make electricity and heat. Some Pokemon can even push great amounts of water to power major electrical plants. Or, consider if you will, a time of crisis. What if we are threatened by outsiders? In such times it would be hard to argue against using Pokemon as soldiers."

"So all of this is just so you can use Pokemon as tools?" I demanded. "To work them like slaves? You're insane!"

Blake chuckled. "Thank you." I stepped away from him, seriously freaked out. This man scares me.

"Mr. Hall, sir!" Wheeler cried, rushing forward. "Don't waste your words on this uncouth child." Um, did you forget I was standing here? "Allow me to handle this."

Wheeler turned to me, grinning. It was seriously creeping me out. "Now, child," he said. "Let dear old Wheeler here give you a light snack. For my own satisfaction, really. Or how about you become my friend's snack instead?"

Suddenly, a Bidoof came out from nowhere. Seriously, just one Bidoof. That was it. I was able to capture it in one loop. It was actually pretty pitiful.

Wheeler even seemed shocked that I managed to capture it. he said, "Oh? How very, very odd. But not to worry. Let me catch my breath and-"

"Wheeler. That's enough," Blake said, shoving Wheeler aside. "Sparkette has clearly surpassed the training days of school long ago."

"I see!" Wheeler chuckled. "You wish to toy with with the child yourself! Girl, you should feel privileged! This time, your downfall is assured! No one can outsmart Mr. Hall!" Oh yeah? Then you haven't met me yet.

"Wheeler. Shut up," Blake hissed. He then turned back to me. "Sparkette, I don't believe you understand the full power of the Incredible Machine. You fail to grasp the enormity of what it represents."

"You're right. I don't understand the full power of this machine," I said. "But I don't think you do either. So how about stopping this nonsense?"

"Now why would I do that?" Blake asked. "Pretty soon a new dawn will arrive. Altru will celebrate it's new birth. Until then, how about a little example of it's power?"

Blake smirked and walked over to the control panel of the Incredible Machine. "Perhaps I should summon a Pokemon worthy of this occasion," he mussed, fiddling with the controls. "A Pokemon worthy of ushering in a new age of darkness… That said, that Pokemon… no not it. Not yet. Ah, but this is absolutely wonderful! From here, I have my choice of Pokemon. They are all available for me to summon. Whether they be in herds or alone, they are mine to control as I desire." That's really not good… I didn't like the sound of this.

"Ah! There! The perfect Pokemon for you!" Blake exclaimed, after a few minutes. "I've spotted it in the Haruba Desert!" Blake swiped his hands across a giant purple orb. The Shadow Crystal started glowing. Blake then turned back to me.

"The development of this enormous machine took exceptional cost and effort," Blake said. "The project only took off when we placed Kincaid as a teacher in the Ranger School. He succeeded in recruiting a genius who appears maybe once in a century." Isaac… I hoped he was alright. "Ah! Here comes the Pokemon I summoned!"

Suddenly, a Dusknoir appeared out of nowhere. I backed away from it. No. No. Go away. Please. Dusknoirs scare me. A lot. They were so creepy! What was up with that mouth on it's stomach? Seriously creepy! I started breathing deeply, but was as far away as I could possibly get from the Pokemon. This caused Blake Hall to laugh.

"Sparkette, what's the matter?" he said. "Don't tell me you're scared of my little Dusknoir! Because he's so excited to play with you!"

I didn't reply. I couldn't say anything. I was terrified. The Dusknoir let out a growl. I shrunk back from it.

"Now, Dusknoir!" Blake Hall shouted. "Show this Ranger what you can do!"

Dusknoir let out another roar, this time opening the mouth on it's stomach. I was completely petrified as the Dusknoir charged at me. I somehow managed to duck out of the way before it could hit me. I was so glad my body was moving on it's own, because I don't think I could've done this if I actually tried. Thank goodness for instincts!

I'm not sure I even processed what was going on during this capture. My arm was just working on it's own. Luckily Pachirisu was able to function and helped out a lot. I'm not even sure how long the capture took. But it felt like a lifetime. I was completely terrified. And Blake Hall was very amused by this fact.

I panted as Dusknoir finally ran away. It was gone. Finally. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Congratulations, Sparkette," Blake said. "You've surpassed your reputation. But don't get too full of yourself. You're sorely mistaken if you think you've won."

"And why would that be?" I asked.

"Don't you get it? I still have the Incredible Machine. With it, I can just keep on summoning Pokemon. Even you can't keep captures like that up forever," Blake said. "It's over. You've lost."

"I think you're the one who's lost," I said. "Because I have this!" I pulled out the Yellow Gem. Blake stared at it in shock.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded.

Heath stepped forward, panicking. "Uh… we are meaning to reporting earlier, but we three failing at protecting gem."

"Now that isn't true, Heath!" I said. "You guys gave this to me after I defeated you again!"

"You idiots gave up the gem?!" Blake shouted. Heath shrunk back from him.

"But Boss, sir, you having that Pokemon already, so…" Heath said.

"You blundering oaf!" Okay, even I was freaked out now. Blake Hall was scary. "It was crucial that the three gems be kept apart from each other! All we needed was to retain one of them! Just one! If we keep even one, the Shadow Crystal can't be harmed! Did you forget that? You failed to protect the gem and the barrier! You expect that Pokemon to cover for your repeated mistakes? This takes some nerve!"

"But Boss…" Heath started.

"Silence! I have no need for underlings now!" Blake shouted. "With the Incredible Machine, all of Almia's Pokemon are my servants!"

"Not a chance!" Huh? All of us looked up to see Sven and Wendy flying above us.

"Hall!" Sven shouted. "We can hear your raving even up here! Sparkette, get ready! We'll put the finishing touches on Operation Brighton!"

"Got it!" I shouted. I turned back to Blake.

"You think you Rangers are so clever?" Blake hissed. "You leave me no choice but to summon that Pokemon."

I did not like the sound of that…

Blake walked back to the machine, and swiped his hands across the orb again. "Ah, what fortunous timing! Midnight has finally arrived!" Oh no… "On Altru's day of birth, let your presence be shown in all it's dark glory! Now! Rise, my Darkrai!"

The Shadow Crystal started glowing again. "Staraptor! What's wrong?" I glanced up to see that both Sven and Wendy were having trouble with their Staraptors. What was going on?

Suddenly, the tower started rumbling. Heath and Wheeler backed away, scared. I was seriously considering doing the same, since Blake walked closer to me. A giant black hole appeared in the floor, inches away from Blake. A Pokemon started to rise from it. At least, I think it was a Pokemon. It was almost as dark as the crystal. It had glowing blue eyes, and a red stripe. The lightest thing on it was a white headpiece thingy. I stumbled backwards, nearly falling down the stairs.

"Sparkette, allow me to introduce you to my Darkrai," Blake said, smirking. "It is the most beloved of all my Pokemon!"

"Hi Darkrai…" I said, my voice shaky.

Blake laughed. "Now, Darkrai! Invite this so-called hero into your world of darkness!"

Blake walked back to the machine and swiped his hands against the orb. Darkrai growled, and knocked me off my feet. As I struggled to stand up again, it flew over to me. It raised it's arms, and a dark crater appeared under my feet.

Blake Hall smirked at me as I shrieked, desperate to escape. But Darkrai was pulling me down. There was nothing to grab onto, no way to get out of this. I started to sink faster as I was dragged to the center of the crater. I reached out my arm, desperate to make myself taller. But everything was losing feeling. Everything was cold. It was as though I was drowning. I couldn't even make any sounds come out. This was bad…

"Ranger! Go! Into the world of darkness!" I heard Blake shout. I couldn't see anything anymore. Everything around me was dark. I was so alone… no…

"SPARKETTE!"

Seconds after the call, someone grabbed my outstretched hand just before it slipped into the darkness, and pulled me up and out of the void. The hand felt so familiar… it couldn't be…

But it was.

"Keith…" I said. "You're alive…"

Keith set me down on the ground and landed his Staraptor next to me. "Of course I am!" he said, grinning. "Come on. You didn't expect me to make a comeback?"

"I don't know what to expect from you anymore," I said. Keith laughed.

"Did you ever?" he asked. I laughed. It really felt good to do that again. "Anyway, I'm glad you're safe, Sparkette. I was really worried about you."

"You? Worried about me? You got knocked off a roof right in front of me! How do you think I felt?" I asked.

Keith laughed feebly. "Sorry," he said. "To be fair, though, you almost got sucked into darkness in front of me."

"I guess that's true," I said. "What happened back there, anyway?"

"Lavana's attack sent me all the way to Lookout Ridge," Keith replied. "The guy with the snack cart and his mom had to wake me up… whoops! Maybe I should leave that part out off the story…"

I stared at Keith for a long time. A few seconds later, I smacked him across the face.

"Ow!" he complained. "What was that for?"

"That was for scaring me!" I exclaimed. "I thought you could've died! You should've at least voicemailed me!" I paused. "But this…" I hugged Keith tightly. He seemed slightly shocked that I did this. "Is for everything else. And I really mean everything."

After a slight hesitation, Keith returned the hug. Neither of us let go for a while. When we did, Keith stared at me, and said, "Sparkette, there's something I want to tell you."

"Yes?" I said, after a few seconds of silence.

"Uhh…" Keith said, staring at me blankly. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He turned back to me. His face was red, and he couldn't look me in the eye. "Sparkette… I… I want to tell you that I… I…" Suddenly, Darkrai let out a roar. Keith and I both turned to it. It's eyes flashed with anger.

"We should probably hurry. Can we talk later?" I said. After a few seconds Keith nodded. "You might need this." I handed the Yellow Gem to Keith.

"Do I really need this thing?" he asked. "I'm completely sick of it."

I laughed. "I know, right? Unfortunately we need it."

Keith sighed. "Oh well. Might as well take it."

"Hey," I said. "Stay safe, okay?"

Keith smiled at me. "You too."

I hugged Keith once again. I was really glad he was safe. Once I let go, Keith flew off on his Staraptor. I watched as he joined Sven and Wendy, then turned back to Blake.

"Blasted Rangers…" he growled. "I'll make you regret ever having taken up arms against me!" He turned back to the Incredible Machine. "The Incredible Machine actually has another level beyond level three! The forbidden level… level dark!"

"What are you doing?" I yelled, terrified. "Are you insane?"

"Mr. President, sir!" Wheeler said, running over to Blake. "Not that! You mustn't do that! We don't know what will happen!"

"Boss, even me, I am not following you anymore," Heath said, backing away from Blake. "No more, I cannot…"

But Blake wouldn't listen to anyone. His mind was so far gone, I'm not even sure he heard us. He swiped his arms against the orb, and a large alarm went off. Suddenly, the tower started rumbling. I clung to the railing. The three bars next to the controls turned red, and flashed on and off. Even Darkrai was effected by the rumbling, even though he was hovering above the tower.

Blake laughed and walked over to Darkrai. "This is it!" he said. "Level dark! The forbidden power known only to the infinity that is darkness! My Darkrai… your age has arrived. But there is a job you must first complete. Swat down the annoying pests flying overhead!"

"No!" I shouted. Keith was up there. I couldn't let him get hurt.

But Darkrai couldn't hear me. I don't think it could hear anyone. Instead, it raised it's arms, and opened the void again. I could only watch as Wheeler started to get dragged into the dark void.

"Mr. President!" he shouted. "Help!"

Blake didn't even make an effort to help him. Instead, he stepped away from the void. "D-Darkrai?!" he stuttered. "What is the meaning of this? Stop it! Stop this at once!"

Darkrai enlarged the void, and dragged Wheeler to the center. "Mr. President!" he cried as he was sucked into the void. I backed away, breathing deeply. What was Darkrai doing?

Suddenly, there was a large flash of light. The purple orb on the controls shattered. Oh no… not good…

"No more!" Heath shouted. "I no want this! I going home to country!" Heath ran down the stairs and off of the roof. I honestly can't say I blame him. This was terrifying.

"Heath, wait!" Blake exclaimed. "Stay! I can make you the next president! Don't go…"

Darkrai crept up behind Blake. I really wanted to warn him, but no words came out. I was completely terrified. I couldn't talk even if I tried.

Darkrai raised its arms. The void appeared again, but this time underneath Blake Hall.

"What are you doing?" Blake demanded. "The Ranger is that way!" No I wasn't. I wasn't here.

Blake started to try to run out of the void, but it was no good. He couldn't escape. "Please! Don't pull me into the darkness! Stop! Please! No!" Blake shouted.

But it was no use. Blake was gone. Darkrai let out a roar, and a dark cloud started to engulf the tower. I could barely move, I was completely petrified. Oh no… what was going to happen? This is not good… Blake Hall, you idiot! Why would you use the forbidden level?

Suddenly, my styler started beeping. "Sparkette, what is going on down there?" Keith's voice shouted. "We can't see anything from up here!"

"It's Darkrai!" I shouted. "It's gone insane, so I really can't talk now!"

I pushed a button on my styler, and it beeped. I felt kinda bad for hanging up on Keith, but I couldn't think about that!

The entire tower had been engulfed in darkness. I could barely see anything anymore. The only thing I could see was Darkrai, who was shaking uncontrollably. The power of the Shadow Crystal was unbelieveable. That poor Pokemon…

"Mr. Presi… where… Wheeler… is… help…" but… that was Wheeler's voice. What was going on?

"Wheel… you… where is… I… only dark… can't see…" Blake. This was seriously creepy.

From there on out I couldn't tell who said what. Just voices from nowhere. "I, Wheeler… what is… up… down… can't tell… awful… is this… nightmare? Please… Ranger… elp."

Yes. This was a nightmare. A nightmare that I was now trapped in. But I had to do something. I had to capture the Darkrai.

I took a deep breath. I turned to Pachirisu, and she nodded at me in understanding. We both knew what we had to do. No matter what. We needed to end this suffering.

I started to try to capture the Pokemon, and also started to avoid dying. That would be good as well. But it was no use. My styler had no effect on it. Darkrai was insane. I couldn't do anything to it. Even Pachirisu was no help. Nothing had any effect on this thing.

Suddenly, Darkrai let out a roar, pushing me backward and knocking me off my feet. There was no way to capture Darkrai. Now what would I do?

Suddenly, I was surrounded by three beams of light. Blue, red, and yellow… these lights came from the gems. There was a large flash of light when the light made contact with my styler. My styler somehow felt more powerful. I don't know how to describe it, but I felt like I could capture Darkrai now. It felt like I could do anything. It was really weird.

"Are you ready, Darkrai?" I said. "'Cause this time I'm not going to lose!"

Darkrai roared again. But I wasn't scared anymore. Because I knew my friends were there for me if I needed them.

The normally blue capture line now had three different colors: red, blue, and yellow. I assumed this represented the three gems. And the gems were what allowed me to capture the Darkrai. My styler was finally doing something to it. Unfortunately, the gems couldn't power up Pachirisu, so I was on my own for this capture.

Which was not that fun. Darkrai didn't care where he shot his attacks, meaning I had to dodge quite a few. A few close calls there.

Darkrai also teleported, which was always annoying. Especially when I didn't have Pachirisu to help me keep it in place. The attacks got even worse about halfway through the capture, though.

Suddenly, Darkrai let out a loud roar, which nearly shoved me backwards. It raised it's arms. I got prepared to run from another void, but instead he pulled down a black orb from the sky. Which was not very safe, as it kept on shooting meteors at me. These made burn marks in the ground. I did not want those anywhere near me. So that was another thing I needed to worry about. It was hard to focus on the capture while dodging the meteors.

This one capture took forever. I was panting by the time I finished. But it was completely worth it. As soon as the familiar golden light engulfed Darkrai, the fog started to lift from the tower. That meant my friends could get close to the tower again! Yes!

Keith, Wendy and Sven flew down on their Staraptors with their gems glowing. I waved at them as they circled the Shadow Crystal. The giant purple crystal started glowing, but not in the same way as it had been before. This light was almost soothing. It was really quite beautiful.

The three meters in front of the crystal turned green again, then all shut off. Darkrai smiled at me. All of its pain had gone away. Darkrai flew up a few feet, and Blake and Wheeler reappeared beneath him. Finally, Darkrai came to it's senses! Darkrai then flew circles around me, causing Pachirisu to climb into my arms in fright. I laughed, and waved as Darkrai flew away.

Wheeler was looking around confused, while Blake stared at me. "Ranger… you saved us?" he said. I nodded, smiling. "But… why?"

"Hey, thanks to you, I know what it's like to be sucked into darkness. And it's really not fun. Nobody should have to go through that," I replied.

"Thank you…" he said.

"Ah, so you've finally awoken from your nightmare, it seems."

Blake and I turned to see Professor Hastings, Barlow, and Isaac walking up to us.

"Hey, Sparkette," Isaac said, waving at me.

"Isaac!" I exclaimed, running over to my friend. "How did you get out?"

Isaac laughed. "Oh, that. Barlow broke me out. It was really funny, actually. He just shouted target clear and punched out the transmitters."

I laughed as well. "Aw, I wish I coulda seen it!"

While Isaac and I were talking, Professor Hastings and Barlow walked over to Blake. "I have something here that I must return to you," Professor Hastings said. He pulled Brighton's diary out from his pocket. "This is your father's diary. We managed to restore it. May I read some of it out loud?"

Blake nodded, and Professor Hastings read, "The oil reserve is down to half that of last year. I fear for the future of Almia. Today, several mysterious black stones were unearthed from the drilling site. They were unlike anything I had ever seen. They shone with a dark, alluring light. I felt something stir in my heart in response to it's fascination."

"This next page is roughly six months later," the professor said. He then cleared his throat and continued to read. All of us were listening intently. "Finally, we discovered a gigantic specimen of the Dark Shard, The Shadow Crystal! However, it is guarded by a Pokemon that is like darkness itself. Though we can see the Shadow Crystal, that Pokemon keeps us at bay. We have no choice but to make do with the small Dark Shards we can collect. They will allow us to continue with our studies on dream-energy sources. Today also happened to be my only son Wyatt Hall's thirteenth birthday. But because I had become so enthralled with studying the crystal, it slipped my mind. I feel bad for having done my son Wyatt wrong…" Um, who was Wyatt? Now even Isaac was slightly confused.

"Who is Wyatt, you might ask? This is an entry from exactly one year later," Professor Hastings said, answering our unspoken questions. "Today, my only son reached his fourteenth birthday. Over my wife's protestations, I changed my son's name from Wyatt to Blake. We, my son and I, had a ceremony near the Shadow Crystal for changing his name. We dedicated my son, who will lead Altru Inc, to the Shadow Crystal. In return, let the Shadow Crystal's incomparable power flow to my son. May the Shadow Crystal and Blake lead Altru Inc. to glory."

Everyone was silent. Blake looked like he had a million thoughts in his head. Barlow was also lost in thought. Isaac seemed to totally understand everything that was going on, and was waiting for more. I was just confused. Why would you dedicate your son to the evil crystal of doom? That didn't seem very smart.

"This entry comes roughly two years after Blake's renaming," Professor Hastings continued. "I realize now that I made a terrible and terrifying mistake. The Shadow Crystal, over thousands of years, absorbed negative feelings. It took in the darkness from people's hearts and stored it as energy. My only son Blake has been trapped in its infinite darkness. My own son, who drove me from Altru Inc to become it's youngest president! Blake Hall… No! Wyatt Hall! My son, I promise! I will save you! For the rest of my years, I will do everything I can to free you!"

Professor Hastings closed the book. "The diary ended with that entry. Of course, it also contained a wealth of information on other matters, such as the secrets of the three gems. While we failed to decipher the whole thing, the diary was extremely important. After all, it made Operation Brighton possible. I assume it was your father that told you about the three gems in the first place. Isn't that correct, President Wyatt Hall?"

Nobody said anything for a while. I felt really uncomfortable. I really wished Keith was here. Then I would at least have someone to talk to. Isaac actually cared about what was going on, so I didn't want to bother him. I mean, I guess I cared as well, but I just wished the people here were more talkative.

"Wyatt Hall…" Blake, or Wyatt, I guess, said. "My real name… Just like you said, my father told me the secret of the three gems. But by then, I was already enthralled by the Shadow Crystal. All I could think about was how to remove the Darkrai guarding the Shadow Crystal. You see, I founded Team Dim Sun to collect the small Dark Shards, but that approach was just insufficient."

Wyatt turned to Professor Hastings. "The Ranger managed to gather the three gems that eluded my father," he said, nodding at me. Yay, thanks for dragging me into this! "Those three gems awakened me from my long nightmare. Operation Brighton… my father finally got his wish to save me today." I smiled. I guess the gems did some good after all.

"Blake…" Barlow said. Oh right, he was here. "No, that's Wyatt. You still have to make amends for your criminal past. When things settle down, you're due for some questioning. Escorts have arrived and are waiting at the front of the Altru Building. Can you walk out on your own? "

Wyatt… no, I'm calling him Blake. That was still his legal name. Anyway, Blake stared at Balow, confused. "Wait, you're not trussing me up? You're allowing me to walk out to meet my escorts on my own?"

"Well, it's not like you can really go anywhere else," Isaac said.

"Yeah, unless you want to jump out of the building there's no other way out," I said. "So there's really no need to drag you with us."

Blake stared at us. "Thank you…" he said. "I'm touched by your kindness." Blake walked down the stairs from the roof, followed by Wheeler. Pretty soon Barlow followed them as well.

"Sparkette!"

"Keith?"

I turned to see Keith running up to me. He screeched to a halt in front of me. "Thank goodness you're alright!" he said. "What happened down here?"

Sven and Wendy joined us.

"Okay, so Blake decided to turn the Incredible Machine to the forbidden level, level dark. This made Darkrai go crazy, so I captured it. It was cool!" I said.

"No it is not cool!" Keith nearly shouted. "You could've gotten hurt!"

"Well, I didn't!" I said, cheerfully.

Keith sighed. "And you tell me not to be stupid." Isaac, Sven and Wendy snickered as I smacked Keith for the second time today.

"Good work, everyone!" Professor Hastings said, walking up to us. "Operation Brighton was a complete success! Incidentally, you three don't seem to have the gems anymore. What happened to them?"

Keith, Sven and Wendy exchanged glances, then pointed at the Shadow Crystal.

Or, what used to be the Shadow Crystal.

The once black crystal was now completely clear. I could see right through it. It looked like it was made out of glass. Floating around were the three gems. It was truly spectacular.

To top it all off, the sun was rising. The light from the gems, the crystal, and the sun were truly a sight to see. It honestly made all of this trouble worth it.

"This is amazing…" I breathed.

"Yeah, it is," Keith agreed, walking to stand next to me. Isaac decided to stay with Sven and Wendy. Keith then whispered, "But I think you're more amazing." Wait. Wait. Um, what? Did I hear that right? No… I couldn't have.

I turned to Keith. "Um, what did you just say?"

Keith's face went red. "Oh, um, I said I think we should get going! The Go-Rock Quad's concert is about to start! Let's go!"

Before I could say anything, Keith grabbed my hand and dragged me down the tower. I heard the others laugh before following us.

The celebration for Altru's birthday was in full swing by the time we got there. People were dancing and having a good time. Maybe it was best to wait before telling them what happened last night…

Keith and I snuck into the back of the crowd at the concert. I don't think either of us cared that we were still holding hands. And neither of us were going to change it. Isaac ran to stand with Rhythmi in the front. Sven and Wendy hung out in the middle of the crowd. Neither Keith nor I were intent on following any of them. We were happy back here.

We stood there in silence for a while, watching the concert. After a few minutes, I said, "Hey, Keith. What did you want to tell me earlier? Right after you rescued me from Darkrai?"

"Oh, that," Keith said. "Um, it's not important right now. I can tell you later." There was another awkward silence. "Hey, Sparkette? Do you remember the first day we met?"

"What, when you were a complete jerk to me and kept on 'forgetting' my name? I don't think I could forget that if I tried," I replied.

Keith laughed feebly. "Yeah… sorry about that. I guess it was the only thing I could think of to get your attention. I was kinda an idiot, wasn't I?"

"Wait, was an idiot?" I said. "How about is an idiot. That would be more accurate. And you know, you really didn't have to do that. I would've noticed you anyway. You really stood out."

Keith stared at me for a while. I just stood there watching the concert. "So what made you think about that, Keith?" I asked.

"I actually think about it a lot," Keith said. "It is how we first met, after all."

"What do I have to do with anything?" I asked. Keith didn't reply, so we just stood there in silence one more. It was really nice, especially after the craziness of the past few days. But I'm not sure it would've been the same if I was with anyone else.

"You know, I was really happy when I rescued you from the dark void," Keith said.

"And why would that be?" I asked.

"Well for one thing, it meant you're still alive," Keith replied. "And for another, it made me feel like I finally got to pay you back, even just a little, for all of the help you've given me."

"Oh, Keith," I said. "You've already done more than enough."

I threw my arms around Keith. Keith didn't even hesitate before returning the hug. I don't know where it came from. But I certainly wasn't going to change it.

"Thank you, Keith," I said.

"For what?" Keith replied.

"For being my best friend," I said. "It must be hard. I'm not sure if I could do it."

"Yeah, it is hard," Keith said. "But maybe not for the reason you think."

* * *

**So this is the last chapter but there will still be one more update. And please don't kill me for Sparkette's obliviousness to Keith. This was painful to write. **

**Please review!**


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